1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 [16]Rejoice always, [17]pray without ceasing, [18]give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. [19]Do not quench the Spirit. [20]Do not despise prophecies, [21]but test everything; hold fast what is good. [22]Abstain from every form of evil. [23]Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. [24]He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (ESV)

Ephesians 4:25-31 [25]Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. [26]Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, [27]and give no opportunity to the devil. [28]Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. [29]Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. [30]And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. [31]Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. (ESV)

The Christian life from start to finish is all about grace.  And it is all about grace, it is all about God.  Paul puts it this way in Romans 11:36 [+/-]Romans 11:36 [36]For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (ESV)
, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be glory forever.  Amen.”  “Him” is God as He makes Himself known to us through His Spirit on the basis of the work of His Son for our justification, sanctification and ultimately for our glorification.  All of it is grace.  All of it is God.  The Christian life begins through the awakening that comes to us as a gift of the grace of God.  The Holy Spirit comes to us through the proclamation of the Word of God and awakens us to how holy and righteous God is and how sinful and ugly we are as He calls us to trust the only one who can save us from God’s wrath and our sin.  The Holy Spirit convicts us and gives us all that is needed to trust Jesus.  And we do.  That is grace.  That is God.  And as we trust in Jesus alone for salvation God declares us to be fully and absolutely right with Him not on the basis of anything in us or about us but on the basis of the sacrifice of His Son through the shedding of His blood on Calvary.  We are declared forever right with God.  This is Grace.  All grace.  This is God.  All God.  “It was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”  And the Holy Spirit who changes us also seals us up as a person and a people who belong to God and He begins to work in us to shape us toward the image of Jesus to make us as we live our lives among the people of God all that He wants us to be.  He is making us holy.  He is sanctifying us.  He is changing us as He grows us.  This is grace.  This is God.  And at last either by way of the coming of Jesus or the coming of death we are transported home on the wings of grace.  The Christian life begins and ends in grace.  AND THE SUPREME GOAL OF THE ENEMY IS TO WORK TO FRUSTRATE THE WORK OF THE GRACE OF GOD IN US AND AMONG US.  The Bible has two apparently different images for what this looks like and we are going to look at them today.

The Christian life from start to finish is all about grace.  And it is all about grace, it is all about God.  Paul puts it this way in Romans 11:36 [+/-]Romans 11:36 [36]For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. (ESV)
, “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.  To Him be glory forever.  Amen.”  “Him” is God as He makes Himself known to us through His Spirit on the basis of the work of His Son for our justification, sanctification and ultimately for our glorification.  All of it is grace.  All of it is God.  The Christian life begins through the awakening that comes to us as a gift of the grace of God.  The Holy Spirit comes to us through the proclamation of the Word of God and awakens us to how holy and righteous God is and how sinful and ugly we are as He calls us to trust the only one who can save us from God’s wrath and our sin.  The Holy Spirit convicts us and gives us all that is needed to trust Jesus.  And we do.  That is grace.  That is God.  And as we trust in Jesus alone for salvation God declares us to be fully and absolutely right with Him not on the basis of anything in us or about us but on the basis of the sacrifice of His Son through the shedding of His blood on Calvary.  We are declared forever right with God.  This is Grace.  All grace.  This is God.  All God.  “It was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”  And the Holy Spirit who changes us also seals us up as a person and a people who belong to God and He begins to work in us to shape us toward the image of Jesus to make us as we live our lives among the people of God all that He wants us to be.  He is making us holy.  He is sanctifying us.  He is changing us as He grows us.  This is grace.  This is God.  And at last either by way of the coming of Jesus or the coming of death we are transported home on the wings of grace.  The Christian life begins and ends in grace.  AND THE SUPREME GOAL OF THE ENEMY IS TO WORK TO FRUSTRATE THE WORK OF THE GRACE OF GOD IN US AND AMONG US.  The Bible has two apparently different images for what this looks like and we are going to look at them today.

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Jesus was accused of being possessed of demons and dominated by the prince of demons (Mark 3 [+/-]Mark 3 [3:1]Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. [2]And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. [3]And he said to the man with the withered hand, "Come here." [4]And he said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?" But they were silent. [5]And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. [6]The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. [7]Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea [8]and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. [9]And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, [10]for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. [11]And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, "You are the Son of God." [12]And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. [13]And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. [14]And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach [15]and have authority to cast out demons. [16]He appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); [17]James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); [18]Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, [19]and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. [20]Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. [21]And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, "He is out of his mind." [22]And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, "He is possessed by Beelzebul," and "by the prince of demons he casts out the demons." [23]And he called them to him and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan? [24]If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. [25]And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. [26]And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. [27]But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. [28]"Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, [29]but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"-- [30]for they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit." [31]And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. [32]And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, "Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you." [33]And he answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?" [34]And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! [35]For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother." (ESV)
).  Why?  Because he challenged a religious system that was the resource for life for so many while at that time robbing them of what life really is.  The major issue for those who accused Jesus of being demonic was that His casting out demons was for the glory of God that led to people who lived for the praise of God and the pursuit of His purpose even when doing so was hard.  Remember the man in the cemetery from whom Jesus expelled demons and when this man wanted to go with Jesus which was the easy road to travel, Jesus sent him to his home where they had once mocked him to make known among his family and friends what Jesus had done.  This is what life in the Spirit is.  It is not our having what we want and desire to help us and to make us happy.  It is our being so saturated by God in His power that we proclaim in every place the Good News of Salvation.  We don’t quench the Spirit by channeling the fire of God in the way that is best for us but we let the fire of God burn and if it consumes us and others are converted then so be it.  We do not grieve the Spirit by using the Spirit for our own goodies but we bring delight to God by desiring that the Spirit so consume us that we be used of God to deliver the goodies to others.  This is real life in the Spirit.   And it is really hard and I guess that is why the only way to live this life is by the power of the Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12 [12:1]Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. [2]You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. [3]Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit. [4]Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5]and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; [6]and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. [7]To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [8]For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, [9]to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, [10]to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. [11]All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. [12]For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13]For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. [14]For the body does not consist of one member but of many. [15]If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [16]And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [17]If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? [18]But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. [19]If all were a single member, where would the body be? [20]As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. [21]The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." [22]On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23]and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, [24]which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, [25]that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. [26]If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. [27]Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [28]And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. [29]Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30]Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? [31]But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. (ESV)

Dr. Sinclair Ferguson pastor of the marvelous First Presbyterian Church of Columbia, South Carolina said in a sermon two weeks ago, “the greatest privilege and highest honor given to any human being in any part of the world is the privilege and honor of being a part of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.” Do we believe that? Paul portrays the church as the body of Christ with Christ as the head of the church and it makes it plain in all of his proclamations that to belong to Christ who is the head of the church is to belong to His body. The first belonging to Christ is the result of a radical act of the grace of God on the basis of the shed blood of Jesus and the latter belonging to the church is the Spirit led response of all who have truly received and responded to the grace of God. How do I know that someone is a believer, that they belong to Jesus? Well at least one way I know is that they belong to the body of Christ and are involved both purposefully and passionately. But how does this body of Christ work? What does it look like in its effective operation? That is the question for this morning as we turn our attention to 1 Corinthians 12 [+/-]1 Corinthians 12 [12:1]Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. [2]You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. [3]Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit. [4]Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5]and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; [6]and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. [7]To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [8]For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, [9]to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, [10]to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. [11]All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. [12]For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13]For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. [14]For the body does not consist of one member but of many. [15]If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [16]And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [17]If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? [18]But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. [19]If all were a single member, where would the body be? [20]As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. [21]The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." [22]On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23]and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, [24]which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, [25]that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. [26]If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. [27]Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [28]And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. [29]Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30]Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? [31]But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. (ESV)
. What we want to see this morning is how the Spirit of God works in the church of God to bring glory to God, to bear witness to Jesus and to build up the body of Christ.

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Galatians 6:1-10 [+/-]Galatians 6:1-10 [6:1]Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. [2]Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. [3]For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. [4]But let each one test his own work, and then his reason to boast will be in himself alone and not in his neighbor. [5]For each will have to bear his own load. [6]One who is taught the word must share all good things with the one who teaches. [7]Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. [8]For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [9]And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. [10]So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (ESV)

The Fruit of the Spirit is . . . and we examined last week the fruit that is the inevitable outcome of life lived under the control of the Holy Spirit.  The fruit grows internally as a well-spring of joy that is fed by the experience of the love of God that gives us contentment in all circumstances.  The fruit shows externally in compassionate care for others that is the result of our trust of the purpose of the Sovereign God in our own lives to do that which is good.  And the fruit is eternal as we live our lives in trust of God and obedience to His Word because we are controlled by the Holy Spirit.  The fruit of the Spirit is real and it is revealed.  And it continues to grow and to show as we live out our lives putting to death the desires of the flesh and submitting our lives to the obedience of the Word of God which is what it means to walk in the Spirit so as to live in the Spirit.  But Paul wants us to know that there are two contexts in which we live out our Spirit-filled lives and that there is a core connection between the two.  I believe that he wants us to know also that the first context is the foundation for the second context so that it is impossible to live under the control of the Holy Spirit in the second context if we are not doing that actively in the first context.  Let me be very specific as I ask you to look at these verses to see first how they are laid out and then we will look into them to listen to what the Spirit of God is saying.

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One more thing before I set before you the final five descriptors of what I have seen that have caused me to conclude that the boomers and buildres are very religious but not righteous:  I just finished listening during my workout this morning to a sermon by John Piper where he cited the thousands of traditional churches all over America that are closing and the large number of church plants that are taking place.  If we understand what God is up to, then we should not grieve over these church closings.  It is my conviction that many more thousands need to close and give their resources which in some cases are enormous to the causes of the Gospel in reaching the world.  And we must rejoice at the changing shape of the church where biblical fidelity is being married to doctrinal integrity and it is producing churches with a truly missional mindset.  But that is not happening in most of our traditional churches.  And the reason is the power base that is held in many of them by intensely religious builders and boomers.  In fact, I am convinced that the only traditional churches that are making a real Gospel impact any more are those where the power bases by whatever means have been broken and splintered so that those who once ruled according to their desires have all but lost their voice.  Now with all of that, let me turn to the final five:

Number five:  the privatization of the relationship with God.  Builders more than boomers but certainly among boomers as well see their relationship with God as a purely private matter.  That is not only detrimental; it is demonic.  A relationship with God is the result of the miracle of the grace of God being so manifest to us that our world is turned upside down and inside out.  The outcome is a passion to know God and to make Him known.  We could no more hold in the news of the new birth than we could the news of the birth of our first grandchild.  Nothing has hampered evangelism in so many communities and churches where I have served quite like this very perverted and entirely unbiblical notion about what a real relationship with God looks like.  It has led to people among both boomers and builders who have lived their entire adult lives thinking that they really are believers while never ever having told a single soul about what it means to be saved.  That reality speaks volumes about why the traditional church in America is and has been in trouble for a long, long time.

Number six:  the above view is often welded to a thorough misunderstanding of the precious doctrine of the priesthood of every and all believers.  This truth is a precious teaching of Scripture which simply means that we are responsible before God to communicate His truth to the world and to care for one another in the church.  We do not need a preacher to proclaim the Gospel to the world for us nor do we need a pastor to care for us.  We communicate the Gospel to the world and we care for one another in the church.  The pastor is called of God to oversee the flock of God with the help of other elders so that his priority purpose can be prayer and study so as to teach the depths of the declared Truth of God in the Bible.  But the priesthood of the believer as often understood and practiced by many builders and boomers has come to mean that we can interpret the Bible for ourselves so that it means whatever we want it to mean.  The outcome is that we go to church on Sunday to hear another take on a text that may or may not be different from our own.  I see and have seen this one for some time as one of the most atrocious developments in our SBC life.  It has produced so much perversion.  For example, and I can only site one; it has led us to believe and individual can be saved by saying a prayer and walking down an aisle regardless of whether there is evidence of the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in that person becoming an active part of the life of a local church.  That is why we have SBC churches that will boast of 1,000 members while having under 200 in attendance on any given Sunday.  That is the tragedy of the triumph of heresy over truth.

Number seven:  This perversion of the priesthood of the believer led to the democritization of the church.  We in SBC life turned the church into a democratically governed body.  We would have monthly or quarterly business meetings or conferences in which members would come to discuss all matters of business and to vote.  Now this produced two major issues:  first, there is no biblical model for this way of being and doing church, but when you have privatized religion and a perversion of the doctrine of the priesthood, it is easy to make any model of managing a church fit.  Secondly, in many churches that I served we would have people come to and speak out in business meetings that never came to Sunday night worship and in some cases only came to church to participate in business meetings.  And in some cases they were powerful enough to sway the people toward their way of seeing in doing church which in now almost forty years of experience was never, ever what would have been the biblically right path.  And what is most horrific to me is that we still have churches that hold the Bible high as the inerrant word of God and still do Kingdom business this way!

Number eight:  Add to this democratic way of doing church a leadership body called deacons that saw themselves as a board of directors.  Seriously.  Men got to be deacons by being men of influence and power in the community.  Spiritual intergrity and bibilcal fidelity did not mean much if anything.  One of these men who served as a deacon in the fifties in sixties in one of the churches that I served told me after God had turned his life around that when he served as a deacon he never went to Sunday School or Sunday night church and only attended worship occasionally.  He drank at parties with the other deacons and the pastor of the church and saw his role on the “board” of the church in the same way that he saw it when he served on the “board” of the bank.  In his words, “the church was a business to me with its product being the production of good, decent, morally responsible people.”  How horrible is that?  And yet there are still builders and boomers that see the church this way.

Number nine:  Do not underestimate the radically wicked influence of racism among the builders and boomers.  Many who were baptized members into the church among both generations were also those fighting hard against integration.  Members of churches in the south were the leaders in the establishment of institutions both educationally and otherwise whose express purpose was to create environments where their kids would not be in the same classroom or on the same athletic fields as black people.  Now how odd is this mentality?  God is redeeming a people for himself from every tribe and tongue and people and nation and we come to the church house to sing to this great God and to say that we want to be involved with Him in His work and then Monday comes and we say, “not really; we want to be involved with God in His work of reaching anglos.”  The church I am in now is the only church I have ever served where I was not given in the early weeks a private audience with a few power boys who tole me what I was to do if a “black person” came forward on Sunday morning.  I have responded to them all the same way and I can assure you that it stuck in the craw of these men who from that moment forward looked for some other reason to come against me, terrified that I was going to seek to bring black people into “their church.”

Number ten:  Boomers and builders are very vocal in every church I have served.  They want what they want and they believe that they are entitled to it.  This entitlement mentality is tied to the reality that most of the grumbling and complaining I hear always comes from these age groups, far more now from builders than from boomers and some of  it in my current situation I understand fully. I do not agree with it and listen politely (most often) but I understand it.  They see the church they knew changing and in some ways radically.  And that is deliberate because the church they knew was rigorously religious which is exactly what I used to be.  And those churches for reasons ordained of God are dying and ought to.  So, I understand why those who are tied too much to what used to be and too little to Him alone who is would grumble and complain.  But underneath is this sense of the church belonging to them.

God revive Your church in our land.  And teach me I pray that is not my church or our church.  It is Your church.  Build Your church, Lord Jesus; that is your promise.  And I stand upon that promise.  Amen.

Before I list and comment on the ten reasons I need first to say that both these generations have made stellar contributions to society.  They taught us about the value of hard work and  the discipline of staying with a task during tough times.  They fought wars on foreign shores and defended the cause of liberty.  They built the infrastructure of so much of small town America from the east to the west coast and from north to south.  The builders made money and saved it to give their children (the boomers) a better life than they had known thus teaching us the value of one generation providing a foundation for the next generation.  And yet in far too many cases the operative pronoun in all of the above is “I” or “we.”  The focus is far too frequently on what we did and what we gave and what we produced that has yielded over time an entitlement mentality in every area of life, even in the church.  So that many builders and boomers look at the local church as their church so that what is to be done there is to be done their way and if they do not get their way they grumble and complain and if that doesn’t work they keep themselves and their money at home.  That may be an entrepreneurial way of expresing power but he shows the virtual absence of true piety.

Let me do one other thing here.  Let me frame my argument because my focus is frankly quite narrow.  Others will have to see is this applies to their contexts and thus enlarge the focus, but I am writing this assessment from the perspective of a Southern Baptist Pastor having served in county seat town First Baptist Churches for almost thirty years and the other nine years of pastoral ministry have been in rural churches in the South.  So, my purview for proclamation is very small.  This is simply what I have seen in these kinds of SBC churches for now almost forty years of ministry.  With that said, I will now give you five of the ten reasons for saying that the builder and boomer generations have not helped us in understanding what true religion really is.

Number One:  Most builders and boomers grew up in a time when a relationship with God was defined as a public profession of faith usually made some time before adolescence that was signified in walking down a church aisle to join the church and then having that decision sealed later by baptism.  Joining the church on the basis of a profession of faith quickly became in the early fifties the equivalent of being saved or of giving your life to Jesus.  It was during the late fifties and through the decade of the sixties that many in fact made this “decision.”  They were immediately counted as both children of God and church members.  And when they dropped out of church after tenth grade or dropped out altogether during the college years, nobody thought to conclude that by biblical standards these people who were by any standard the vast majority most likely had never been saved.  What this produced during this period by the adults who practiced this perversion and the young people who participated in it was a fully false view of both conversion and the Christian life.  It resulted in communities all over the south filled with pagan people who really, sincerely consider themselves to be saved because they joined the church and were baptized.

Number Two:  This false understanding of faith was tied to a false understanding of faithfulness.  Godliness as defined by the Bible was replaced by goodness as defined by the mores of the culture.  There was a certain list of “don’ts” and a certain list of “do’s.”  As one man put it to me recently, “we just wanted out kids to grow up to be good, moral people who would enter the world and make good, right decisions.”  It was for me one of the most clearly communicated cultural definitions of Christianity I had ever heard.  It came from a boomer brother.  He was serious.  But so are so many who see being good and doing good as the essence of what it means to be a Christian.  So, if you joined the church as a child and lived right as an adolescent and are not a good contributing member of the community with good moral values, it must mean that you are a Christian.  It does not mean that at all and some who read this may be shocked at this conclusion.  You are one who really needs to keep reading.

Number Three:  It was during this period that there emerged a programmatic way of measuring piety.  Now it is here that you would have to be a Nashville notched Southern Baptist in order to understand what I am about to say.  Nashville is headquarters for Southern Baptists.  It is to us what Rome is to the RCC.  That may push it over the line but not too far in the fifties and sixties!  All of our literature for both Sunday School and Baptist Training Union came out of Nashville and a Southern Baptist Church that did not use this literature was suspect of being charismatic! Southern Baptists were shaped by the programs produced out of Nashville so that a real Christian was one who went to Sunday School and Church on Sunday morning and if you wanted to be a really good Christian or you had been really bad and needed some extra points, you went to BTU (if you think that stands for British Thermal Units, you are probably a Methodist and need to repent any way!).  But the point is that participation mattered.  It was the way we stayed saved and the annual or bi-annual revival meeting is the way we got saved.  It was all carefully constructed and particularly programmed.

Number Four:  The liberalism that was ruining our seminaries was alive and well in the 1950’s so that most SBC churches that were of the FBC variety were getting these men as pastors who were liberals.  They told stories on Sunday morning.  They turned the inerrant truth of God into instructive material for a morally meaningful life.  They did not preach the depravity of man and the sovereignty of God; they preached rather that humans are basically good and God is all loving so that we just need our kids to join the church and do the right things, and they will be ok.  The parents liked it because it got their kids into heaven.  The kids liked it because they could be assured of going to heaven even though they were partying on Saturday night. It was the preaching of human goodness as the meaning of salvation and it gutted the Gospel and truncated the Truth of God.

Number Five:  Worship was reduced to a traditional routine of rather formal liturgy.  First Baptist Churches began to mimic the Methodists except for saying the creed and emulate the Episcopalians except for kissing the Bible.  The service began with a very formal prelude and ended with an equally formal postlude.  The choir no longer sang special music, but anthems.  And the prayer to begin the service was called the Invocation.  The sermon because it was preached for the most part by men who were not inerrantists was reduced to twenty minutes and no longer than thirty and the Bible was barely present.  This was the time when many people came to church on Sunday without a Bible.  It is no accident that when I make observations about this I find that the builders and the boomers are still the least likely to have Bibles with them on Sunday morning but the twenty and thirty somethings have them and they are open with highlighter lines and markings all over the place.  I can still tell today when I am dealing with the religious types when they get all exercised about the elements of worship and what we call them and particularly when their main focus is either how long I preach and when we “get out.”  I do not ever this kind of thing from the twenty and thirty somethings; either they are sinister gossips behind my back or they have a different perspective on what worship really is.

Well, that is one-half of the reasons that I see.  I could see it all wrongly.  I hope I do.  I’ll give you the other five next time.

We are all born with some very basic desires.  God has made us in His image which means in part that those desires cannot be satisfied except by Him.  As Augustine put it, “God has made us for Himself and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Him.”  Our problem is that those desires are directed through our flesh so that Paul calls them the desires of the flesh and our flesh is by nature sinful or self-centered from the very moment of birth.  We want these desires gratified in a way that satisfies us and we seek that from birth.  That is why Paul calls these desires not only desires of the flesh but also works of the flesh.  The word for “works” suggests the investment of time and energy for the purpose of satisfying those desires in a way that brings pleasure to us.  Now we looked last week at the four basic desires that are found as the foundation for the works of the flesh:  we desire relational intimacy, we desire religious stability, we desire to feel good about ourselves and we desire freedom.  And we work for these on the basis of what we see we need so that we invest time and energy in seeking satisfaction for these desires.  And it always leads us deeper and deeper into domination by the sinful expression of these desires.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Now let me say several things here that are important to hear.  First, the second group generationally that has most distressed me is my age group.  We are called boomers.  We were born according to the demographers between 1946 and 1964.  We were raised by the builders born prior to 1946.  We were raised with the mentality that our lives were going to be better than theirs and that we deserved it.  We were raised to think that the measure of measures for meaning in life was monetary and material prosperity fueled by a high quality education.  And we were raised to see these things both as what we deserved and as the declaration of blessing from on high so that we look at our “stuff” and say, “God has blessed us,” which is true and conclude, “we must belong to God,”  which is a horrible conclusion to make.  Boomers are so much into building our kingdoms that we have little time for His Kingdom except at the level of giving.  We give.  But it is hard to get boomers to do much beyond that because we have rested our salvation in our profession of faith and baptism and have failed to see that though we are saved by faith alone we are not saved by faith which is alone.  We do not really like James:  faith without works is dead, being alone.  Now I know that everything above is a generalization but it is a close characterization of many in my generation.  We passed this legacy of living on to our chidren born between 1965 and 1980 and you will have found many of them actively engaged in churches during their childhood and through about the tenth grade, pulling away when they got drivers license and not involved at all during and after college except when they “come home.”  Many boomers are not bothered too much by this reality since they have the same understaning of salvation for their children that we have for outselves.   I see this a lot.  I hear parents who are boomers speaking of their children who are living like pagans and saying, “well, I know that he or she is a Christian . . .”  I am never shocked because what the parent is saying about the child is what the parent believes about himself or herself.  Both have reduced a relationship to God to a religious ritual.

My hope in these days really does rest in the generations emerging after 1980.  I see and sense a lot of hope in these young men and young women.  They do not want anything as it used to be.  They see the good looking shell of outward appearance but the emptiness inside of that shell that they see in so many lives is disgusting and distressing.  For example, they see traditional church and its forms and routines and then watch the lives of those who grew up in the time in which church was done by ritual and routine, and they do not see real and radical life change.  They see people who are concerned about things that do not matter:  what a person wears to church, what kind of music is sung in church, where something comes or does not come in the order of worship. whether there is mistake in the bulletin or the newsletter, whether the room is too cold or too hot, and I could on and on ad infinitum ad nauseum.  They see this kind of thing and they are not only repulsed by it, as they should be and as I am as well, they want so much more.  I see a hunger and thirst for Jesus among them that I have not seen in my entire ministry.  It is what stirs me and thrills me in our day.  For example, for every builder that wants to tell me how far past twelve I preached are two or more from this younger generation who have no concern about those kinds of meaningless matters.  They want more meat from the Word of God.  They want to drink from the fountain that quenches and never runs dry.

But here is my question:  what happened among the builders and the boomers to produce the kinds of people that populate so many of our churches?  What was going on to create this condition?  Now I want it understood that some of the most godly men and women I know are from both these generations.  I am blessed by them.  But I am also deeply concerned that we pay attention to the blowing wind of the Holy Spirit across the landscape of the life of the church in our day and it is not coming from either my generation or the one beyond me.  That means that neither of these generations can define who the church is or what the church is to be.  Fresh wind and fresh fire from the Spirit of God is falling on the twenty somethings and thirty somethings all over the world and we had better listen.  Can that wind and fire fall on my generation and the builders?  Absolutely.  But we must know what created the conditions in which we have found ourselves for far too long and we must be willing to repent of our pride that for far too long has held the church captive to our cultural concerns.   And I will speak to that in the next blog.

We listed four of these basic desires this past Sunday:  relational intimacy, religious stability, feeling good about ourselves or self-esteem and freedom.  These are four desires with which we are born.  We want these desires satisfied.  But since we are sinners, we seek the satisfaction of these desires in the ways of the flesh and are always left either unsatisfied or dissatisfied.  For example, we seek relational intimacy in members of the opposite sex and we seek that intimacy in ways that are sexual.  Paul calls it “porneia” or sexual relationships outside of marriage.  The word that he uses covers all sexual activity outside of marriage because all sexual outside of marriage is sinful.  It is an affront to God.  So the boy who sleeps with his girl is not lavishing her with love; he is lusting after her and motivated by the need for relational intimacy.  He goes on the date to go to bed with her thinking that it is what he needs.  He succeeds to get her into bed and is left fully unsatisfied.  This is how the flesh works and this is what is meant by the works of the flesh.  The works of the flesh are simply our pursuing natural desires in ways that are directed by our feelings.

Now it is right here that we come face to face with a fundamental issue in our culture:  we are taught that pursuing our desires as determined by what we feel that we need to be happy is a good thing.  I mean, we have developed a whole branch of “science” and an entire educational system based on this belief.  The social science of psychology both in its base form (psychology) and in its higher expressions (psychotherapy and psychiatry) are built on the baseline of our knowing what we want and need.  When these needs and wants are frustrated, we are left unfulfilled.  And our frustrated and unfulfilled states take us toward all kinds of bipolar disorders that when rightly diagnosed can provide for us the necessary medication to help us to feel better about ourselves so that we can get back at the pursuit of what we sense that we need and want.  In biblical terms it translates something like this:  we are born sinners whose basic desire to feel good about ourselves which we do in the pursuit of our sinful desires.  When we cannot have what we want or when we get what we want and still do not feel good about oursleves, that is God’s way of showing us that something is wrong with us or that we are sinners and the help we need is not found within us or around us but beyond us as it comes from God by His grace and through His Son.  Does anyone else see the dilemma here?  Follow the flow of our system and you will be assured that your problem is not sin and the solution is not God; follow the flow of Scripture and you will be assured that your problem is sin and the only solution is God.  Does anyone else see that what we have in our churches is people who are trying to swim in both rivers at the same time?  The end result is that we look to the therapeutic and medical community to give us what we really need and we look to God as the clean-up hitter whom we need only when the other does not work and whom we surely need when death is coming and we want to go to heaven.  My fear is that this kind of view creates for us the kind of God that is no help for us at the door of death because this kind of God is not God who through His Son has defeated the power of sin and death and gives to us daily in His Spirit what we need to live godly lives in Christ Jesus, lives which are not at all about us having what we need and want to feel good about ourselves but lives that are consumed by Him so that we crucify ourselves so as to live for others which really makes us feel good about ourselves.  Most of us don’t need shrinks; we need contact from a sovereign savior.

We only have one morning service on Sunday morning and then on Sunday night we observe family night.  Family night is simply a time when we cease from all other activities that normally go on on Sunday night and gather as one large family.  We sing, we pray, we give praise to God and we eat; usually in that order.  It is a time to testify to the goodness and grace of God in our lives.  I am writing these words on a fifth Sunday anticipating our Family Night tonight.  We have just had a wonderful time in the morning with full house and full service followed by a wonderful meal.  But my point in all of these words until right now will be made right here:  we did not begin this morning until 9:45 with Sunday School and we were done with the morning service around 12:20.  Earlier this morning as I had already completed at least a half days’ worth of work before 9:45 rolled around I began to ponder what people must be thinking when they think that because they came to Sunday School and then endured a worship service that went past twelve that they must have delighted God on His Day.  Some would think that they have demonstrated their devotion to God through such an investment of their lives.  Some are sure that it is a sign of their love for God and their desire to deliver Him praise.  Come now!  How could we wade around in such shallow water and think we are swimming?  How could we mount such a mole hill and consider it a mountain?  Seriously?

God gave us one whole twenty four hour day in seven for the purpose of rest from ordinary labor and for the worship of His great Name.  It is to be set aside in its entirety for “religious exercises” and I mean that phrase in the Puritan sense of the practice of what is proper to give good and right praise to God.  The time in which we are to engage in religious exercises is the entirety of the day.  It would look something like this:  the early morning would be spent in private and family prayer in preparation for the public worship of God.  The bulk of the morning would be spent in public worship followed by a fellowship with food in which the conversation would be salted by reflections on how to live out the preached word which would then be followed by a time of rest and then the Lord’s Day would end with the public worship of God followed by retirement to our homes where we would gather the family to reflect on the day and give thanks and praise to God for the good and right gift of this day.  How does that sound to you?  Be honest now.  You see, I believe how we see the Lord’s Day and what we do with it is very good barometer of the true marrow in the bones of who we really are. I hope our Sundays here say that we love God, His glory and His Word more than we love anything else.  And I hope that we say that we are glad to gather to give glory to His Name, even saying that we do not do it for long enough time in the morning and the evening.  What a day Sunday is!  What does your Sunday say?

Galatians 5:13-26 [13]For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [14]For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." [15]But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. [16]But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17]For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [18]But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. [19]Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20]idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, [21]envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22]But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23]gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [24]And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25]If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [26]Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (ESV)

Paul had he lived in our day and in our country would have loved this time of year.  The bowl season has just ended and the Super Bowl is just ahead.  The NBA is in full swing and March Madness is coming fast.  Spring training is just around the corner and the PGA Tour has arrived on the west coast.  And the World Cup is just in front of us.  Paul loved sports.  Read his letter and he uses the sports of his day as tools for teaching truth.  He says for example that he does not run without a goal and does not just punch the air but he disciplines himself to bring himself under control so that what he preaches to others he lives out in his life so as to be a bridge and not become a barrier (1 Corinthians 9:25-26 [+/-]1 Corinthians 9:25-26 [25]Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. [26]So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. (ESV)
).  Or when he gets near the end of his life and wants to describe his journey he uses image from the world of running and fighting:  I have finished the race and fought the good fight.  And here at the pivot point in this passage that is pointing us to how we are to live lives controlled by the Spirit he makes a statement and raises the question:  you were running well; who hindered you?  The word for hindered comes right out of the world of racing in which it was not abnormal for someone to cut in front of another to slow them down just enough to get them off stride and to impede their progress.  Paul is asking these believers:  who did that to you?  That is why your life is not filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit; that is why you are struggling so much; that is why you are so downcast and depressed and not jubilant with joy.  And I want to ask you again this morning at the beginning of this sermon:  who is hindering you?  Here is a promise:  the more committed you are to Jesus as Lord of your life in every way the more certain it is that Satan will place people in your life whose role is to throw you off stride; they don’t mind you being a person of faith, they just don’t want that dimension of your life to dominate all that you are and all that you do.  And the extent to which we listen to their voice is the extent to which we cannot hear His and thus lose the sense of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

“Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Isaiah 40:30-31 [+/-]Isaiah 40:30-31 [30]Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; [31]but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.

Women’s Ministry invites you to come away and wait for the Lord with us as He renews our strength. Come gain endurance with us as we learn to run without stumbling by drawing our strength from the only source that will last the entire race. We will begin the evening by eating dinner together. Throughout the evening and the following morning, we will have opportunities to delve together into God’s word and to share what we hear.

Cost: $20 includes lodging, 2 meals and materials. Scholarships are available.

Contact Carol to apply. Small Group Participation – Limit 12 women per retreat Everyone is invited even if you’ve been before. Each retreat will be identical so choose your date as soon as possible. The following date is available for now:

March 19 — 20, 2010

Each evening will begin at 5:30 and you will be on your way home by noon the following day. Though your time investment is only 18 hours (including sleeping), your time away will eliminate the busyiness that distracts us from God.

Need information or details, contact Carol Palmer at 706-554-5953. Transportation is available.
To Register: Simply fill out the THIS FORM and leave the completed form with your $20 payment in the church office.

Week of February 7
Sunday, February 7: Youth Super Bowl Fellowship Hall contact Mike 554-5156 ext 25
Monday, February 8:  Evie Toole WOM 7 pm @ Cockerhams 554-4074; Upward practice Burke Alternative School Gym 6-9 pm
contact  Dwayne Flakes 554-2832;
Tuesday, February 9:  Elder Meeting @ 7 contact Al 554-5156 ext 24
Wednesday, February 10:  Great Commission SS Literature Meeting for Present
And Future Preschool & Children SS teachers 5:30 room 202 contact Don 554-5156 ext 23
Thursday, February 11:  Youth Winter Jam contact Mike 554-5156 ext 25; Upward practice Burke Alternative School Gym 6-9 pm contact Dwayne Flakes 554-2832
Saturday, February 13: Upward Games # 6 Burke Alternative School Gym 8:30-1;
Prayer Breakfasts @ 8
UPCOMING EVENTS
Upward Games : January 9—February 27
FBC Pictorial Directory Photography Sessions :
February  7 & 8 & 9
International Missions Fundraiser Luncheon : January 31
Savannah Baptist Center Mission : Informational Meeting:
January 31 @ 4:30
WEM Winter Retreat : February 5-7
Youth Super Bowl : February 7
Specks Concert : February 21
Upward Awards : February 27
Men’s Retreat : March 5– 7

I have been able to learn something recently about what happens in these kinds of churches.  One of the churches that I really love where one of my heroes preaches the unsearchable riches of Christ has in recent years made a concerted effort to be more inviting to seekers.  The church has adjusted the forms of its worship as well as expanding its outreach to various campuses.  Thousands have responded being attracted by the power of the music and the penetrating perceptions of the preacher, but now some are beginning to waver.  Should we stay?  Should we walk away?  And it would not surprise you that the issue that is causing the stir is the issue of God’s sovereignty and particularly as that issue relates to salvation.  The question that is being raised that is rankling people is the question of the initiative of God vs. the initiative of humans.  Where does salvation originate?  Does it begin with God who for His glory and by His grace comes to us or does it begin with us who out of an intelligent choice choose to come toward God?  What disturbs those who are currently observers from the sideline is the teaching of John 6 [+/-]John 6 [6:1]After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. [2]And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. [3]Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. [4]Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. [5]Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" [6]He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. [7]Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." [8]One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, [9]"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" [10]Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. [11]Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. [12]And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost." [13]So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. [14]When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" [15]Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. [16]When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, [17]got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. [18]The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. [19]When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. [20]But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." [21]Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. [22]On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. [23]Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. [24]So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. [25]When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" [26]Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. [27]Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." [28]Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" [29]Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." [30]So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? [31]Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" [32]Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33]For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." [34]They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." [35]Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. [36]But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. [37]All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. [38]For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. [39]And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. [40]For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." [41]So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." [42]They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" [43]Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. [44]No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. [45]It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me-- [46]not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. [47]Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. [48]I am the bread of life. [49]Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50]This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. [51]I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." [52]The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" [53]So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. [54]Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55]For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. [56]Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. [57]As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. [58]This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." [59]Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. [60]When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" [61]But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? [62]Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? [63]It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. [64]But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) [65]And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." [66]After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. [67]So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" [68]Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, [69]and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." [70]Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." [71]He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him. (ESV)
that no  person can come to the Father unless that person is drawn by the Son.  Some in this particular place of which I am speaking are really struggling.  Some have already walk away, just like they did when Jesus taught this in John 6 [+/-]John 6 [6:1]After this Jesus went away to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, which is the Sea of Tiberias. [2]And a large crowd was following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing on the sick. [3]Jesus went up on the mountain, and there he sat down with his disciples. [4]Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand. [5]Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?" [6]He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. [7]Philip answered him, "Two hundred denarii would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." [8]One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, [9]"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish, but what are they for so many?" [10]Jesus said, "Have the people sit down." Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat down, about five thousand in number. [11]Jesus then took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted. [12]And when they had eaten their fill, he told his disciples, "Gather up the leftover fragments, that nothing may be lost." [13]So they gathered them up and filled twelve baskets with fragments from the five barley loaves left by those who had eaten. [14]When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, "This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world!" [15]Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself. [16]When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, [17]got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. [18]The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. [19]When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were frightened. [20]But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid." [21]Then they were glad to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land to which they were going. [22]On the next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the sea saw that there had been only one boat there, and that Jesus had not entered the boat with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away alone. [23]Other boats from Tiberias came near the place where they had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. [24]So when the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor his disciples, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum, seeking Jesus. [25]When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" [26]Jesus answered them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. [27]Do not labor for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal." [28]Then they said to him, "What must we do, to be doing the works of God?" [29]Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." [30]So they said to him, "Then what sign do you do, that we may see and believe you? What work do you perform? [31]Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" [32]Jesus then said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. [33]For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." [34]They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always." [35]Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. [36]But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. [37]All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. [38]For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. [39]And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. [40]For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day." [41]So the Jews grumbled about him, because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." [42]They said, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How does he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" [43]Jesus answered them, "Do not grumble among yourselves. [44]No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. [45]It is written in the Prophets, 'And they will all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me-- [46]not that anyone has seen the Father except he who is from God; he has seen the Father. [47]Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. [48]I am the bread of life. [49]Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. [50]This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. [51]I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." [52]The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" [53]So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. [54]Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. [55]For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. [56]Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. [57]As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. [58]This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever." [59]Jesus said these things in the synagogue, as he taught at Capernaum. [60]When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?" [61]But Jesus, knowing in himself that his disciples were grumbling about this, said to them, "Do you take offense at this? [62]Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? [63]It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. [64]But there are some of you who do not believe." (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.) [65]And he said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." [66]After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. [67]So Jesus said to the Twelve, "Do you want to go away as well?" [68]Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, [69]and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God." [70]Jesus answered them, "Did I not choose you, the Twelve? And yet one of you is a devil." [71]He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the Twelve, was going to betray him. (ESV)
.

Know what the irony is to me?  If God is sovereign in our salvation then there are no seekers after God except those who have already been found by Him.  No lost person seeks God because they can’t.  Only those who have been saved by the grace of God seek Him.  And oh how we seek Him.  It is one of the most sure signs that we are His.  Those who think that they are seeking to be His who are not already His may be further from Him than they know.  Maybe that is why just the hearing of the teaching of God’s sovereignty sends them scattering from the light of the absolute Truth of God.

Galatians 5:1-12 [5:1]For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. [2]Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [3]I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [4]You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5]For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [6]For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. [7]You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? [8]This persuasion is not from him who calls you. [9]A little leaven leavens the whole lump. [10]I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. [11]But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. [12]I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! (ESV)

Look with me at the last two verses of Galatians 5 [+/-]Galatians 5 [5:1]For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. [2]Look: I, Paul, say to you that if you accept circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. [3]I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. [4]You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace. [5]For through the Spirit, by faith, we ourselves eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness. [6]For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love. [7]You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth? [8]This persuasion is not from him who calls you. [9]A little leaven leavens the whole lump. [10]I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine, and the one who is troubling you will bear the penalty, whoever he is. [11]But if I, brothers, still preach circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed. [12]I wish those who unsettle you would emasculate themselves! [13]For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. [14]For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." [15]But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. [16]But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. [17]For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. [18]But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. [19]Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, [20]idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, [21]envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. [22]But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23]gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. [24]And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25]If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. [26]Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (ESV)
.  Here is our goal.  This is where we are headed.  Verse 25 is a very simple conditional sentence:  if our lives really are controlled by the Spirit of God then everything we are and everything we do will be governed and guided by the Holy Spirit.  Pride will increasingly pass away as humility emerges out of our love for God that comes from His love for us and enables us to love one another.   Anger and bitterness of spirit because we do not get our way will be deeply buried because of the joy that is ours in Jesus.  Envy of others for whatever reason will increasingly evaporate because of the peace that we have come to know through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit.  In other words, the fruit of the Spirit will be increasingly evident in our lives.  This is our goal but in order to get to this goal we must go back to verse one and listen to Paul as he points us down the path that leads us toward this goal.

Michael O’Brien sang in our worship service, and we’ve included one of his songs, to be on his new release this March. Please visit his website here: http://www.michaelo.org/ or if you are on Facebook, his fan page is here: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=199565099515

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

The conversation happened with my son-in-law while he was here.  He told me that he sensed that to listen to my preaching, a person had to be willing to think.  And then he told me about two preachers at his church:  one that was like me that many people his age did not like and often did not attend church when he preached and the other who as a story-teller with little of the story telling tied to the Bible that people his age loved to hear.  They went when he preached. But then he made an interesting observation:  those who like the guy who tells the stories tend to me really self-centered and shallow in their understanding of the Bible.  I perked up.  They tend to like this guy who tells stories because he really makes them feel good when he preaches.  He preaches in a way that helps them in practical ways toward getting what they want for themselves.  I’m really listening now.  And the other guy:  well, he just tells them what the Bible says and how God really wants to change their lives.  They don’t want to hear that.  Neither do I frankly.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if life were an unending sandbox where I could play with my toys and you could play with yours and I could get yours when I wanted them and whine to heaven when you got mine!  It would be the world of the child and it would be really childish.  But to stay in that world we would need people who would represent God to us in such a way that He would be pleased with our sandboxes  and give us more toys with which to play while we are in our sandboxes.  It is the kind of world that we are rapidly creating and it is why genuine biblical preaching is falling on such tough times in this kind of world.  At least that is what I learned from those three blogs and one conversation.

Matthew 6 [6:1]"Beware of practicing your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. [2]"Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [3]But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, [4]so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. [5]"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [6]But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. [7]"And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. [8]Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. [9]Pray then like this: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. [10]Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. [11]Give us this day our daily bread, [12]and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. [13]And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [14]For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, [15]but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. [16]"And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. [17]But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, [18]that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. [19]"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, [20]but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. [21]For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [22]"The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, [23]but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! [24]"No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. [25]"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? [26]Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? [27]And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? [28]And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, [29]yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. [30]But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? [31]Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' [32]For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. [33]But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. [34]"Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (ESV)

His Temptations, my temptations series wrapped up!

It was a holiday for many.  It was for my bride and so I took the afternoon off to travel with her to Augusta for shopping where I had two very new experiences.  But before I talk about those, let me just let you know that I always feel a sense of guilt on Martin Luther King Day.  That guilt is because our office is open.  We are not open, I pray; in defiance of the day but because we only get so many holidays and we have chosen Good Friday over MLK Day.  I think that it is a good choice but I still feel guilty being open on MLK Day.  I think we ought to close the office simply as a sign of respect for our black brothers and sisters in the body of Christ.  I understand institutions whose origins and continued existence is rooted in racism being open for business on this day.  It is not defiance for them but a declaration of freedom from whatever oppression was felt historically by them during the days of  the Civil Rights Movement.  I was a young teen during those days and still remember the distress I felt when I saw and heard white men who were respected businessmen berating and beating black men.  Many of those white men were prominent citizens in my home town; many of those black men were my friends.  I still remember the confusion I felt as a young man not yet saved as I heard white men being praised by other white men for excommunicating entire black families from their homes and properties.  I understood just enough about Christianity and common decency to know that what they were being affirmed for was neither Christian nor common decency.  But I was a young buck then who was told by my elders, my grandfather being one of them; that one day I would understand.  Well, I have no idea when that day will come.  I am fifty seven and see today sitting in this seat  what happened then in the sixties as sinister and as sinful.  There is nothing right about it in my eyes now; in fact I see it now as a greater travesty of justice and tragedy of human abuse than I had ever seen it during those days.  That is why even at my age I am very sensitive to cultural issues that have no biblical base; many men and women who in those days treated black people as fodder were not mean and ugly people; they were captured by a culture and not controlled by the Holy Spirit.  They really thought that they were wise but they were fools.  I do not want some young person to say that about me when and if I get concerned about issues that are important to me but have no biblical warrant.

Well, enough of that.  Here are my two unique and new experiences from yesterday.  First, we are in the mall and Anne asked if I minded walking down to “sketchers” with her.  I don’t mind walking anywhere with her.  It makes me look better to walk with her.  Now I don’t know what “sketchers” is.  Never been there.  Assuming it is an art store or a craft shop, I walk in to a shoe store.  Boy was I surprised.  I have wondered for some time where some dudes like John Veldboom got their shoes.  They are cool and funky.  Well, now I know.  These are most unique looking shoes.  I was enthralled by looking at them and learned something new.  Second, Anne asked me to go with to “hobby lobby.”  We had just been to “buy buy baby.”  I love that store.  I love it second to “bed, bath and beyond.”  So I thought that this venture into ‘hobby lobby” would be fun.  I walked around that store, count them now; three times.  I walked out.  Jesse Palmer’s sister and her daughter were walking in as I walked out and asked me what I was doing and I told them, “I just walked around that store three times and for the first time in my life I have found a store in which there is nothing for me that is useful; can you tell me why all that stuff is in that store?”  Can you?  Happy New  Year.

Psalm 139 [139:1]O LORD, you have searched me and known me! [2]You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. [3]You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. [4]Even before a word is on my tongue, behold, O LORD, you know it altogether. [5]You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. [6]Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it. [7]Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? [8]If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! [9]If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, [10]even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. [11]If I say, "Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night," [12]even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is bright as the day, for darkness is as light with you. [13]For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. [14]I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. [15]My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. [16]Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. [17]How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! [18]If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with you. [19]Oh that you would slay the wicked, O God! O men of blood, depart from me! [20]They speak against you with malicious intent; your enemies take your name in vain! [21]Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD? And do I not loathe those who rise up against you? [22]I hate them with complete hatred; I count them my enemies. [23]Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! [24]And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!

Conservative evangelical churches all across America have been observing for some time now the third Sunday in January as Sanctity of Human Life Sunday.  I never come to this Sunday without an awareness of what day it is and what is being done on this day, but I am not always drawn to address the issue directly.  I was this year.  Back in the Fall during some of my prayer times it was becoming clear to me that this issue was an issue that needed our direct focus this year.  And it is not as if it does not deserve our focus every year.  We are as demonstrated by our decisions a pro-choice culture.  We love our freedom to make our decisions about the directions for our lives based on the sole authority of what we feel or think in the moment of crisis is best for us.  It has led us since 1973 to destroy fifty million babies.  That is 1.5 million a year, four thousand a day, one every twenty seconds which would work out to between twenty to thirty lives being destroyed during the course of this sermon.  At the same time we are spending literally millions of dollars to find and protect endangered species so as to keep them alive.  And it seems that too few see both the historical ironies and the biblical travesty of such an approach.  The historical irony is that brave men and women engaged in a necessary war to stop the demonically maniacal philosophies of men like Hitler and Mussollini while we have in our day killed more children by way of abortion than they did in all their gas chambers combined.  And the biblical travesty is that we destroy that which the Bible calls sacred and we treasure that which the Bible says exists for the sole reason of serving the purposes of those who are sacred to God because we are made in His image.  But let me move forward here by saying that I know what the issue for our society is and for some of you in this room; the issue is the nature of the embryonic fetus in the womb.  Is this sperm joined to egg combination really a human being?  No other issue tests our commitment to the sacred truth of Scripture quite like this one.  We all will decide whether this book is sacred truth and it has the final word or that we can know what is sacred through secular scientific investigations and we will choose stand there.

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Romans 8:31-39 [31]What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? [32]He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? [33]Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. [34]Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died-- more than that, who was raised--who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. [35]Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? [36]As it is written, "For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered." [37]No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. [38]For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, [39]nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (ESV)

It was early in my ministry and among my first funerals.  I had yet to have any training at all and so we doing ministry by mimicry.  I did not have a lot of good role models for ministry in my town but I had one great one and in those early days, I did as he did.  It provided for a good start.  But something happened one day at a graveside that startled me in a way that stirred me to ask questions of a text.  I stood there that day ready to begin the committal service and did what I  had seen him do; I pointed to the casket stretched over the empty grave and raised the question of Romans 8:31 [+/-]Romans 8:31 [31]What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? (ESV)
, “what then shall we say to these things?”  And it was right there and right then that I was startled by this stirring:  is this what Paul is talking about?  Is this an appropriate use of this text in this way beside an open grave and a grieving family?  Well, is it?

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The Creation Ordinances continued…

Pastor Al picks up on God as the Covenant making and keeping God.

Romans 9 [9:1]I am speaking the truth in Christ--I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit-- [2]that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. [3]For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my kinsmen according to the flesh. [4]They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. [5]To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen. [6]But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, [7]and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but "Through Isaac shall your offspring be named." [8]This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. [9]For this is what the promise said: "About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son." [10]And not only so, but also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, [11]though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad--in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls-- [12]she was told, "The older will serve the younger." [13]As it is written, "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." [14]What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! [15]For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." [16]So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. [17]For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth." [18]So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills. [19]You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?" [20]But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, "Why have you made me like this?" [21]Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? [22]What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, [23]in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory-- [24]even us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? [25]As indeed he says in Hosea, "Those who were not my people I will call 'my people,' and her who was not beloved I will call 'beloved.'" [26]"And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" [27]And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved, [28]for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay." [29]And as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring, we would have been like Sodom and become like Gomorrah." [30]What shall we say, then? That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith; [31]but that Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. [32]Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone, [33]as it is written, "Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense; and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame."

Basic Biblical Beliefs

Pastor Al speaks on the Absolute Sovereignty of God, with regards to the purpose of salvation.

Romans 8:18-30 [18]For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. [19]For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. [20]For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope [21]that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. [22]For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. [23]And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [24]For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? [25]But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. [26]Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. [27]And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. [28]And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. [29]For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. [30]And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. (ESV)

Does Romans 8:17 [+/-]Romans 8:17 [17]and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)
bother you at all: The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God, and if children then heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him (Rom. 8:16-17 [+/-]Romans 8:16-17 [16]The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17]and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)
). It is as if we go from such glorious heights where we are declared by God on the basis of His dwelling by His Spirit in our lives to be His children and heirs of His rich inheritance which comes to us in and through Christ to the depths of despair where it is declared that the way of entry into this glorious inheritance is through suffering. But if we had the eyes to see as God sees we would know that it is the suffering that is glorious for it is our participation in suffering to the praise and glory of God that is the proving ground of both the validity and integrity of what we say about who we are as the children of God. Romans 8:17 [+/-]Romans 8:17 [17]and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)
is a connective verse; we don’t see this as clearly as we should since almost every translation separates verse 17 from verse 18 when in fact they are inextricably linked. God sanctifies us by His Spirit and through His Word and it is seen in our living out our lives under the dominion of the Spirit. Our lifestyle in all that we are and do is led by the Spirit of God through the Word of God. And it is the Spirit of God who leads us into suffering where our witness to the glory of God and the grace of God shines most brightly.

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this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Romans 7:14-24 [14]For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. [15]For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. [16]Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. [17]So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [18]For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. [19]For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. [20]Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. [21]So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. [22]For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, [23]but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. [24]Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (ESV)

a message about the spiritual journey by Don Veldboom, Associate Pastor

Long ago and far away a very poor couple with very meager means made a journey to the town of their birth. They could not find a place to stay the night. She was fully pregnant with contractions coming more rapidly as the moon came up on that star filled night. He was fully faithful to his God and to his wife. They have travelled a long ways together. But on this night these two poor people would find lodging among the animals and she would give birth to the baby who long before had made the animals that inhabited that stall. The King of Kings was born in the middle of poverty to people who knew this pain all too well. That is why the center of Christmas to me is not family gatherings with far too much food and far too many gifts most of which are not needed at all to those to whom we give them and most of the food is tossed at the end of the day. Such gatherings cause me so much grief because they miss the point of the whole season of Advent and Christmas. I mean, who should be giving and serving more this season than those of us who serve the Savior? Who should be looking more for opportunities to give and share than us? And so many are doing that for which I give great praise to God. But so many don’t. It is much more likely that you find too many of us in the mall at Christmas than in the messy marketplace among the masses of hurting humans. I encountered one of them just today.

What a story she had to tell. She has been in and out of jail. She has been “had” by a so-called preacher. She is not old by any stretch but she has lived a long, long time already. She was free with her confession about “rippin and runnin the streets.” She has been diagnosed with sickle cell and needed some medication. A very dear friend of mine and I helped her to get it; Ithought it was funny hanging out with her at Wal-Mart as I am sure that some were wondering what I was doing with her, or maybe they were wondering what she was doing with me! But it felt like Christmas to me. What better way to celebrate Christmas than this day to serve communion to people I love, to spend some time today with a dear friend who has been a strength for me in the years that I have been here and to help a struggling soul in part by just hanging out with her for just a little while in Wal-Mart. It was for me the height of Merry Christmas!

If I think that Santa Claus really exists and knows who has been naughty or nice then I have either elevated him to the status of God or I have lowered God to the status of Santa Claus. And then I have made it seem as if good things come to us based on the good deeds that we do. I have emptied God of grace and made of God one who is watching and weighing what I do to determine if I get the eternal toys. So, what do we as believers do with Santa Claus? What should make us distinctive from the world?

I believe that we as believers are faced with three options only two of which have any real viability for us. The first one is not a viable option for us. It is simply to join the world at the hip and to act as if he is a real being doing real things: reindeer flying through the air on one night of the year delivering toys and other goodies by landing on rooftops and descending a chimney. Tell that story to the starving kids in refugee camps all over the world. Yet, it is this kind of craziness that casues professing Christians to act like pagans at Christmas. Can I preach just a second: I am all but fed up with the fight over whether it is “happy holidays” or “merry Christmas” because some I hear saying “merry Christmas” as if it is some BIG DEAL are spending out the wazoo for Christmas gifts given to people who already have more than enough. Let me tell you what would be a BIG DEAL: take all that you are going to spend on gifts and gift and equal or greater amount to the missions offering of your church. Then you will have it close to what it really is all about. This option of acting as if it is all real is silliness if not sacrelilgious.

The most extreme option that I did not take but I surely admire is to make sure that your children know the truth about this made up man in the red suit and that they do receive some gifts at Christmas but it is from real, flesh and blood people. Anne and I did not do that. Do I wish now that we had? Well, yes. But we were classic liberals during that time and lived for the most part to be quite honest like the world was living. It was no big deal to us. Some of our younger parents in our church have chosen this option. I admire them so much. I can at least assure them of this truth: your kids won’t grow up and have any right to think, “well if Santa Claus isn’t real, maybe God isn’t either.” There is one other option. It is the one that we chose.

Join in with all the fun of the Santa stuff. But make sure that it is kept at the level of story and not history. Do not even begin to act as if this man is really a real man living at the north pole making toys and feeding reindeer. Tell the truth at the level of story. Compare his story to Dorothy on the way to the land of Oz. Read, “Twas the Night Before Christmas” but make sure that what is emphasized is that it is simply a story. Stories fascinate children and fire their imaginations. They can live in the world of a story and exit it when it is time without damage, but when we treat all of this stuff as if is real, our children exit this with some puzzlement about what else we may have “fibbed” to them about. So, I simply want to warn you because whatever you are doing at Chrsitmas with Santa is what you will do at Easter with the bunny. And that phenomenon is so recent that my recommendation to believers is that we get together and bounce the bunny into a far away land. Let’s say very clearly, “there is no such thing but there is a babe born in a manger, a Savior crucified on a cross, and a Lord and Christ raised from the dead.

Romans 8:1-17 [8:1]There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [2]For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. [3]For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, [4]in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. [5]For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. [6]For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. [7]For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. [8]Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [9]You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. [10]But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. [11]If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. [12]So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. [13]For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. [14]For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15]For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" [16]The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17]and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)

As night follows day so sanctification follows a genuine work of grace in the salvation of sinners. This is the promise of God and it is the purpose of God that is fulfilled through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. There is no salvation of a sinner that does not lead to the work of sanctification based on the Word of God through the Spirit of God among the saints of God. A sinner saved by the graced of God is a sinner compelled to come together with the people of God for the praise of the Name of God and the passionate pursuit of the purpose of God. The Bible knows no alternatives so that the Holy Spirit who works salvation shows the legitimacy of that work of salvation in the work of sanctification on the foundation of Romans 8:1 [+/-]Romans 8:1 [8:1]There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)
: there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Those who are in Christ Jesus are those who are committed to Christ who have come together in a body of believers in which and through which they carry out the purposes of Christ because of the law of the Spirit that brings life.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

I love the Advent and Christmas season but for years found it very frustrating as we moved toward Christmas Day. I would come to Christmas Day even as an adult and get more and more depressed as the day moved forward. It is over, I would be thinking; Christmas is over. Then I discovered the Advent model with Christmas Day being the first of the twelve days of Christmas as Christmas walked toward the season of Epiphany. It made me happy. I held on and hold on to that model. I come now toward Christmas with joy knowing that Christmas Day is not a culmination but an initiation, a beginning and not an ending. That solved one problem. But I had another one.

I love Christmas music. I mean I could begin listening to Christmas music on July 4. I just love it. Therein is the problem. I love the secular variety from Andy Williams to Frank Sinatra to shake a leg now Elvis. But some years back I noticed that the more I listened to that music the more I got captured by the wrong kinds of things at Christmas. Don’t laugh at me here but I would drive to Augusta just knowing that I was going to be frugal in my gift buying and keep the reason for the season in focus and then I would hear that song about the little boy buying his dying Mama a new pair of shoes and then I would hear Alabama singing, “Another Tender Tennessee Christmas . . . and before you know it I had spent far more than was necessary and was on way back to the Boro listening to Chestnuts roasting on an open fire and wondering what kind of nut I was for preaching about the real meaning of Christmas and then spending money like a drunk sailor, and all of it by impulse due to my feelings. Well, I started seeing the issue and started listening to very classical Christmas music and limited my radio listening at Christmas to WAFJ. Guess what? I was able in recent years to maintain focus. Now let me be clear: I am no scrooge. Scrooges are people that I don’t like. I love Christmas still and all that it stands for but I do not like the way we spend money at Christmas: too much of it on the wrong kinds of things. But something happened earlier this month and thus my musiological education.

I happened onto a secular radio station that was playing all Christmas music and I started listening. Boy, did I ever start listening. Please don’t laugh at me but I would be on my way home some nights and would drive around the block a time or two just to hear more of it. And before you could say, “here come Santa Claus, here come Santa Claus . . ” (Elvis, of course), I was thinking like I used to think. I was about to be on the wagon again until one day I got up and turned from 104.3 to 88.3 and within a day had regained my perspective. Boy, was I blown away. I was wrong. Music does have an impact. Do you think the people in the Mall know this yet?

That same day I drove to Metter for a meeting about the Guido Christian Training Institute. I had been telling Larry Guido that we needed some help from somebody to help us know how best to use various media to get out the message about what God is doing through the Guido Christian Training Institute (GCTS). I walked into the meeting that day to be greeted by Bo Fulginiti. He just recently moved to Metter because God told him to move to Metter. It gets better. He has a degree in communicatins and has been working in professional sports organizations to help them sell their product while also serving as a sports announcer. He got saved by the glorious grace of God and was called by God to move back to Statesboro where he had graduated from college and there began to seek God. He was simply praying and digging into the Word of God when God called him to get on a train and go visit his sister. He was on the train trip when a woman sitting behind him was so impressed with him that she wrote him a note that read, “you have the makings of young Michael Guido.” She did not give him the note. But then on his return trip, she sat beside him and was so stunned by this that she gave him the note. It was after his return home that God called him to move to Metter where he immediately found a job and visited the gardens for the first time to find that for us he is the man for whom we have been looking and needing and God just sent him to us. Isn’t that neat? And it is God. It is a wonderful God thing.

Romans 8:1-17 [8:1]There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. [2]For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. [3]For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, [4]in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. [5]For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. [6]For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. [7]For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. [8]Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. [9]You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. [10]But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. [11]If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. [12]So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. [13]For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. [14]For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. [15]For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" [16]The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, [17]and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (ESV)

As night follows day so sanctification follows a genuine work of grace in the salvation of sinners. This is the promise of God and it is the purpose of God that is fulfilled through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. There is no salvation of a sinner that does not lead to the work of sanctification based on the Word of God through the Spirit of God among the saints of God. A sinner saved by the graced of God is a sinner compelled to come together with the people of God for the praise of the Name of God and the passionate pursuit of the purpose of God. The Bible knows no alternatives so that the Holy Spirit who works salvation shows the legitimacy of that work of salvation in the work of sanctification on the foundation of Romans 8:1 [+/-]Romans 8:1 [8:1]There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (ESV)
: there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because of the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. Those who are in Christ Jesus are those who are committed to Christ who have come together in a body of believers in which and through which they carry out the purposes of Christ because of the law of the Spirit that brings life.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

Yet coming home brought me face to face with the reality of life in this world. I had been away from television and telephones. I had spent a few days with no need for a calendar and little need for a clock. I heard no complaints only cheers but then I had to come “home.” I decided when we arrived in Waynesboro that I would go by the office and check my voice mails. I heard not complaints but one message after another from hurting people. One was sick. Another had heard very bad news and another needed some help. All sounded stricken and most were in need of urgent attention. The real world hit me. And the contrast was great. I had left the mountain and now I knew it. But this is where I live my life most of the time. So do you. And it is also why we must go to the mountain from time to time for it is from there that we see more clearly what we really face down here and it is up there that we see where we really want to be. That little taste of heaven for me was just that; it was not nearly enough. But it was enough to enable me to hear the hurt when I arrived at home and to see the pain and undestand that for all who know, love and serve God “we’ll soon be done with troubles and trials.” Having been to the mountain I could now understand some of what we really do face as suffering for the Gospel in this world. Living in this world without the Gospel is very hard. Living in this world as those who are faithful to the Gospel is very difficult if from time to time we do not get to that very special place with very special people for a very special purpose. And do you know what is so tricky? You don’t ever know where that place and people and purpose are going to intersect; it did for me in the first few days of this week and I will never be the same because of it.

I sat at dinner tonight and we talked about a time when our country was more moral and thus far more decent than it is now. They lived their lives during this time and they have watched with dismay and disgust the deterioration of our culture. They are sad and they are mad. And it was during this conversation that an insight came to me. It was one that I really needed to see. You see, I often see Senior Adults as self-centered and selfish. I see them wanting church to be the way they want it to be and not at all accepting of any change. But it hit me tonight: they have seen a lot of change and a lot of it is not good. They lived in a more decent time and they want that time to return and it will not if they do not resist some change. They want their time to be recognized for what it was and it was a different time that was better morally than now. Far better. They simply do not want to be left out nor left behind. It was a good thing for me to see. I needed to see it. Maybe in God’s providence that is why I am here in Asheville this year at the Cove.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

First, we need to pray for Tiger and his family. This may well be the opening that was needed to bring him low enough to cry out for the grace of God. Tiger has spoken often of the inner strength that is his. No athlete short of Michael Jordan has shown the mental determination that is seen in Tiger, but mental determination and inner resolve will not be enough for him now. He cannot think his way out of this dilemma and no matter how much inner resolve he has, it will not be enough to sustain him in this storm. So, pray for him that God will use this storm as a way of bringing him to bow before Jesus as Lord. And why is that important? Well, just go to the “first tee” sites all over the world and ask young kids who they want to be like when they grow up and the answer is always the same: Tiger Woods. So what if Jesus got Tiger by the tail? Wouldn’t that be something and particularly if while on the golf course he had John 3:16 [+/-]John 3:16 [16]"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (ESV)
or Philippians 4:13 [+/-]Philippians 4:13 [13]I can do all things through him who strengthens me. (ESV)
plastered on his golf bag like Tebow does under his eyes. So, pray that God will use this mess for His glory in getting a Tiger to bow before the true King of the jungle.

Second, some of my generation and the previous generation gloat over this kind of thing with words like, “you never heard this about Arnie and Jack, did you?” Well, no; but not because they are believers. There is no indication that either is and if you know otherwise, please let me know. I would want to set that one straight as quickly as possible. They both group up and played in a period when public personna meant everything and they worked hard to produce that public personna, to put it on display and to protect it. They portrayed themselves and portray themselves publicly as good and decent people. Who knows what their private lives are? I do not believe that they have had anywhere near the scrutiny that modern athletes get because one of the realities of modern athletes is that they do not work as hard to create this public personna as athletes once did. And that is a good thing. Public personalities that are different from private personalities is hypocrisy. That is why I would much rather have Terrell Owens be who he is than have someone who is really nice in public but has a reputation of being really rough in private. Anyway the point I am laboring to make is that we not be too quick to say that Tiger is different from Jack and Arnie. He lives in a different day when private lives are put on public display. I don”t think that is a bad thing because the divorce of the private life from the public life leads to duplicitous living that can be devastaing if it is thought to be an acceptable and even appropriate way of living.

These words are written in Psalm 33:12 [+/-]Psalm 33:12 [12]Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!
, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the people whom He has chosen as His heritage. There are at least three things that we need to know about this text in order to understand it. First, it occurs in a context that affirms the absolute sovereignty of God over all things, acknowledging that since God is the creator of all things He is the only one who has the right to control all things. And He does. So that secondly the nation that is blessed is the nation that recognizes this reality as the premise upon which we pursue our work and live our lives. Thirdly, the word blessed does not have monetary and material associations. It simply means that God gives to those people who acknowledge Him as Creator and Sovereign all that we need to function in the world so as to fulfill His purposes. Thus, this text has to do with any people at any place during any time who by acknowledging God as Creator and Sovereign are given by this God His blessing as they are used by Him to fulfill His purpose upon the earth. So, the blessing of God upon a people is tied to obedience to God by the people. Now in the light of what this text teaches I want to look briefly at our reality in our culture in the light of a historical recognition about our founders as a foundation for our reflection during this Thanksgiving week.

Let me begin with our reality. It is really simple: we are in serious trouble. Now I will leave it to others to address our economic woes and the health care crisis; I want to go to what is underneath all of that: the virtual moral collapse of our culture. Although there are all kinds of ways that we can come at this issue, I want to approach it by looking at the life of a child in our culture from birth into young adulthood and make clear what our culture is communicating. Let’s begin with birth and recognize that in our culture many births do not happen. We are the culture of choice who in the instance of killing babies in utero have not been influenced by the rest of the world but are influencing the rest of the world. We have killed more babies in America since Roe vs. Wade than Jewish people exterminated in the holocaust but would be aghast at any comparison of our culture to his. His was a culture of death for the development of the most fit; so is ours. And it is not only abortion that is the issue; many babies born in our culture are born to single moms without a husband or a father. Not to mention babies born to moms who were alcohol, drug, and nicotine users during pregnancy and would not stop because the centerpiece of our culture is radical individualism. I will be what I am going to be, think what I am going to think, and do what I am going to do because it is my right as an individual to do so.

But let’s get the baby here. And from day one in our culture our parenting is driven by the needs, wants, and desires of the child. The child is number one. And whatever the child wants the child gets. And we dare not discipline by way of corporal punishment lest we face the wrath of our peers who see that as abusive. So, we do not deprive so that the child can thrive. By the time the child is two, there are two things that are clear: he or she is surrounded by more stuff than is remotely necessary and the child has learned that he or she is the most important person in the universe. We call this in our culture the building of self-esteem; a psychological theory that did not even exist until the late sixties coming to full life during the seventies when Penelope Leach’s book Your Child’s Self Esteem replaced Spock and the theory to date has no data to demonstrate its viability. In fact, the pushing of the self-esteem agenda has produced frustrated parents, frustrated children, and frustrated teachers. And all of it because we tell lies to our children: you can be whatever you want to be. You can do whatever you want to do. You can do whatever you set your mind to. No child left behind. Every child deserves and education. I could go on. All of these fundamentally untrue and birthed by the self-esteem movement which in order to thrive requires a culture that is fully focused on the individual. Take Radical Individualism and marry it to Self-Esteem and the outcome is a culture of persons with rights who when those rights are violated become victims. And in our culture we have this in full force by the time the child hits school age.

Now let’s fast forward to adolescence where in our culture we are saying to children who cannot behave in school or at home that their problem is in the brain. They have a chemical imbalance. We are even treating young kids now for depressive episodes. So, we have a school population that is heavily medicated so as to be able to function but the message that they get every time they take the pill is that it is not their problem. It is in their brain. So when the boy gets to be fourteen and his brain sends signals of sexual attraction to the girl across the aisle, he just listens to his brain. Since the girl has been taught that she must feel good about herself and finds rejection so difficult, she just gives in. And what is the big deal? They are just doing what is natural and normal. So, sexual activity and sexual awareness starts earlier than ever. Unless of course in our culture you determine that you are genetically programmed toward male to male or female to female attraction, and that is just who you are. And by the time you get to middle school and high school you have learned that if this is who you are, you ought to express it: radical individualism plus self esteem leads to a plurality of ways of living and here is the real issue in our day: and the most backwoods, bigoted people are those who have not learned that the key to our life together is tolerance. We must tolerate all kinds of lifestyles. It could produce a culture in which we work hard to treat terrorists terrifically when they are at Guantanamo and show them the best in fine living when they come to New York City!

Let me very quickly now take our child turned teenager off to college or vocational school and into the work force. By the time they hit college they have learned that life is all about them and that they have a right to succeed. Early on in college they are indoctrinated deliberately with an overdose of evolution. It is made clear to them that only the ignorant believe in a world deliberately designed by God for His glory and brought into being by His word. It has always amazed me and still does and always will that a theory of origins that has increasingly less and less data to support it and has to keep stretching the time frame to make it work, even to the point of changing the dating procedures for fossils in order to make the procedures fit their practice; a theory that admits major flaws, gaps, and still cannot explain how one species becomes another is taught as intelligence by people to people who think themselves by believing it to be intelligent! It mystifies me. Yet, many of your children and mine who go to UGA or Georgia Southern or Georgia Tech or Mercer will be taught this theory as scientific fact. The result is an increase in self-centered, narcissistic living where life becomes increasingly about the person, about me; because in an evolutionary world the pinnacle point is the human and everything exists for him. Then finally you take this college grad and you send her into the work force and her focus is on how much and how often. How much am I going to make and how often do I get off? And the young adult enters the world of work driven by the promised fulfillment of their monetary and materialistic dreams that become the essence of human happiness. And when it doesn’t materialize instantaneously, frustration comes and brings with it a search for happiness wherever it can be found: alcohol, drugs, deception, sexual immorality, credit card abuse and increasingly self-inflicted death. What we are producing in our society is the inevitable outcome of lifestyles that are radically me-centered. A better economy is not going to change that. A better health care system is not going to change that. The finest of educational institutions are not going to change that. You would expect me to say what I believe with every fiber of my being will change that, but even our churches have become too consumed by the world and by the consumer mentality of the world.
Change will come in part I believe when we have some sense of recognition about our history as a country. Most of the founders of this country were not bible thumping conservative evangelicals. George Washington loved more than Mrs. Martha! Some of those guys whose names or on the Declaration were like some of us; they were scallywags! Some were very conservative in their Christian commitment; most were Deists who believed that God created the world and then handed over to us to run. That is why they were so careful at such an early stage in the establishment of the balance of powers in the operation of the government. But there was one thing that they all held dear and was the foundation for all that they said and did: the law of this land must be founded upon the law of God, and the law of God is given by God for the good of the people, plural. In other words, they believed that a country could not survive if it departed from adherence to the law of God. So, they established for example a pluralism that was to be expressed in the context of the affirmation of monotheism: there is one God and His Name is Yahweh; He is the Lord God Almighty the maker of heaven and of earth. Religious pluralism as understood by the Constitution was not the right to worship any God but the right to worship the one God in a variety of ways. Or, remember that our founders were committed to the sacred character of the Lord’s Day and feared violating that Day with any activity except the worship of God and the rest from labor. And even the penal system and the punitive laws of justice were rooted in the law of God. But they also believed that the law of God was for the good of the people and that the good of the people superseded in importance the rights of any one individual. You remember that Alexader de Tocqueville came to America to look at what made America great and his conclusion was that America is great because America is good, and America is good because the concerns of the individual are subservient to the concerns of the community. And it was DeTocqueville who would write prophetically in Democracy in America “the genius of America will be lost when she loses the focus on the concerns of the community and begins to focus on the rights of the individual.

We could see change even in our own community if those who lead our churches and our community and our schools and our law enforcement would recognize our rich history as Judaeo-Christian Country whose founders made it foundational that we acknowledge God by observing and obeying His Law both in our relationship to Him and in our relationship to one another. It would change the way we see life. It would change the way we live in relationship to one another. And it would be a great cause for giving thanks.

George Verwer (born July 3, 1938) is the founder of Operation Mobilisation (OM), a Christian missions organization. Verwer has written several books on various Christian themes. He is a passionate advocate of radical discipleship as the only legitimate option for people who believe in Jesus.

Verwer’s first contact with Christianity was through his neighbor, Dorothea Clapp, who gave him the Gospel of John and also put him on her “Holy Ghost hit list.” Verwer attributes to her some of the reason that he made a commitment to Christ, and for what resulted in his life.

When he was a pupil at Ramsey High School in New Jersey, he went to a “Jack Wyrtzen” meeting in which Billy Graham spoke inMadison Square Garden, in New York City. There he was converted to become a Christian, at the age of 16. Within a year, about 200 of his classmates became Christians.

He had a growing conviction to evangelize on foreign soil. He started with distribution of the Gospel of John in Mexico in 1957 along with two friends, Walter Borchard and Dale Rhoton. They called this operation “Send the Light”. This continued with others during summer holidays. Afterward, Verwer used the name “Send the Light” for a book distribution operation to India based in the United Kingdom. This has since developed into Send the Light, the largest Christian book distributor in the United Kingdom.

After high school, he attended Maryville College and then transferred to Moody Bible Institute, where he met his wife, Drena, who was a fellow student. Commencement Speaker, Conferred an Honorary degree, Doctor of Divinity, May 22, 2009 at Biola University.

After graduation, they went to Spain. Once while taking Bibles into the USSR, George was arrested and accused of being a spy. He was deported, and back in Spain, after a time of prayer in 1961 the work of Operation Mobilization (OM) was born. George often refers to this calling himself “God’s Blunderer”, in reference to Brother Andrew, “God’s Smuggler”.

In August 2003, George handed over the international leadership of the work of Operation Mobilization to Peter Maiden, who was the Associate International Director for 15 years. George and his wife are now involved in Special Projects Ministries full-time. They still travel and take meetings around the world.

Drena and George had three children. Although born American, George became a naturalized British Citizen, and they live in Kent. (courtesy Wikipedia)

Prayer is conversation with God but the part of that sentence that demands clarification and in our culture is the cause of much confusion is the definition of “God.”  It is not that we need help in talking, it is that we need help in understanding the God with whom we are speaking.  Truth is that if we understood the core characteristics of His character we would be reduced to silence in His presence. We would speak only when we sense that He was speaking, and even when we would speak we would do so with a sense of our inadequacy.  That we can come into His presence at all ought to overwhelm us and that our way of access is through Jesus ought to remind us every time we pray that His Son had to shed His blood in order for us to come to Him.  Our depravity ought not ever to be far from us when we pray.  It is what would produce a more genuine humility in our praying and would mitigate against some of our bold audacity.  One of my struggles is that some of the boldest praying I hear is from people whose boldness is not all about the glory of God but about their own needs.  Such praying reveals a heart that may not have been bathed in the blood of Calvary.  Going there reminds me when I pray that I deserve nothing and need mercy more than anything else.  I can write like this and pray like this when life is good but when it turns bad, I pray like that person who has not been to Calvary. I want help for me and I want it now.  That is why I am glad that the God to whom I pray is not only a God of great glory but also of God of infinite grace.

Prayer in the words of J. I. Packer is asking for our desires in accordance with His Will with the latter taking precedent and giving shape to the former.  Here is where I really struggle.  I hear so much about the prayer of faith put forth as asking boldly for what we want and desire and expecting (translate that demanding) that what we pray for is going to come to pass.  Hold on, brother; I am told. Keep praying and God will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37 [+/-]Psalm 37 [37:1]Fret not yourself because of evildoers; be not envious of wrongdoers! [2]For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb. [3]Trust in the LORD, and do good; dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness. [4]Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. [5]Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. [6]He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday. [7]Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; fret not yourself over the one who prospers in his way, over the man who carries out evil devices! [8]Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. [9]For the evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land. [10]In just a little while, the wicked will be no more; though you look carefully at his place, he will not be there. [11]But the meek shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. [12]The wicked plots against the righteous and gnashes his teeth at him, [13]but the Lord laughs at the wicked, for he sees that his day is coming. [14]The wicked draw the sword and bend their bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; [15]their sword shall enter their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. [16]Better is the little that the righteous has than the abundance of many wicked. [17]For the arms of the wicked shall be broken, but the LORD upholds the righteous. [18]The LORD knows the days of the blameless, and their heritage will remain forever; [19]they are not put to shame in evil times; in the days of famine they have abundance. [20]But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the LORD are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish--like smoke they vanish away. [21]The wicked borrows but does not pay back, but the righteous is generous and gives; [22]for those blessed by the LORD shall inherit the land, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. [23]The steps of a man are established by the LORD, when he delights in his way; [24]though he fall, he shall not be cast headlong, for the LORD upholds his hand. [25]I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread. [26]He is ever lending generously, and his children become a blessing. [27]Turn away from evil and do good; so shall you dwell forever. [28]For the LORD loves justice; he will not forsake his saints. They are preserved forever, but the children of the wicked shall be cut off. [29]The righteous shall inherit the land and dwell upon it forever. [30]The mouth of the righteous utters wisdom, and his tongue speaks justice. [31]The law of his God is in his heart; his steps do not slip. [32]The wicked watches for the righteous and seeks to put him to death. [33]The LORD will not abandon him to his power or let him be condemned when he is brought to trial. [34]Wait for the LORD and keep his way, and he will exalt you to inherit the land; you will look on when the wicked are cut off. [35]I have seen a wicked, ruthless man, spreading himself like a green laurel tree. [36]But he passed away, and behold, he was no more; though I sought him, he could not be found. [37]Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace. [38]But transgressors shall be altogether destroyed; the future of the wicked shall be cut off. [39]The salvation of the righteous is from the LORD; he is their stronghold in the time of trouble. [40]The LORD helps them and delivers them; he delivers them from the wicked and saves them, because they take refuge in him.
).  But what is the desire of the heart of any person who is devoted to Jesus?  Isn’t to live in such a way that our devotion to Him is both declared and demonstrated?  And where else is my devotion to Jesus more clearly declared and demonstrated than in the midst of the dilemmas of life?  So here is my dilemma.  If what I wrote just above is true then why am I praying in the midst of the difficulty for God to deliver me if in fact it is in the fire that His faithfulness is most fully known and felt?  Yet, if while in the fire I am not praying for the fire to go out, then I am perceived to be one who does not truly believe in God.  I am helped immensely by Gethsemane where Jesus prayed for deliverance while committing Himself to what He knew was God’s will.  He prayed His desires in the context of His devotion to doing the will of God.

And I by God’s grace just keep learning more and more about prayer.  It causes me grief when I recognize that so much of what we call prayer in the modern American Church is not prayer at all.  And it is not prayer because of our failure to see God as He is and see prayer for what it is.  So much of what we called prayer has turned God into Santa Claus and the one who prays as the one presenting his wish list to Santa, “Please, please do this for me . . . “  This way of praying is very popular in our day.  And very prevalent in the church.  It accomplishes little or nothing beyond its helpful revelation of where we really are spiritually.  Maybe I am not the only one who needs to be enrolled by the Spirit of God for the cause of the Gospel in the school of prayer.

Ephesians 2:1-10 [2:1]And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2]in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- [3]among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4]But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5]even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- [6]and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7]so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8]For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9]not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10]For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)

Paul focuses on the church at the beginning of the letter to the Ephesians and finishes with his focus upon the church.  Listen to what he says in Ephesians 5:25 [+/-]Ephesians 5:25 [25]Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, (ESV)
, “husbands love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up on her behalf that He might cleanse her by the washing of the water which is the Word and then present her to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that she would be holy and blameless.”  The church is precious to Jesus.  He purchased the church with His blood.  He planned the church from before the foundation of the world.  He planted the church in the world as His body over which He is head through which He does His work in the world.  He will gather His church to Himself upon His return, perfect her through His purging and purifying and present her to Himself and she will with Him rule forever in the new heaven and the new earth.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

First, I was reminded that it is the Bible that is inerrant and infallible not those who preach the Bible.  His Word is absolute Truth; the word of the preacher is not.    Second, whether I like it or not, my theological perspective does more to shape my understanding of texts than I or any other preacher would care to admit; and the extent to which I get defensive about that is the extent to which that is really true.  The preacher had better get his theology or his thinking about God from the Word of God but having done that, the preacher must always be open to changes in his theology lest his theology become his textbook rather than the Word of God.  If we adopt a theological system too tenaciously we can become guilty of “always learning but not coming to a knowledge of the Truth.”  I may be very different in this regard but as God has grown me in my own sanctification, I have been all over the map theologically.  And I am convinced that God is not done with me yet.  I’ll write about this one later but right now He has me all mixed up about how much dispensationalism has effected me over against the clearly covenant theological teaching of the Bible.  Dispensation itself is a non-biblical term; Covenant (Testament) is a very clear biblical term.  So stay tuned for that one; God is doing a number on me about that one and it bothers me; I was “settled” in that one and now I am all “shook up.”  I’ll let you know where it leads when it all shakes out.

I saw an example of the above in an otherwise powerful sermon, one of the most powerful that I have heard.  But the preacher wanted to make the point about Jesus’ death being for all the world with the accompanying point that all the world could be saved with the implication that if they could be, they would be if we would just do our job.  There is some hopeful universalism in that kind of approach that is disconcerting to me in the light of what Jesus teaches.  Now it is true that Jesus died for all in the sense that nobody will be saved outside the way of Jesus through the shed blood of His cross.  But it is also true that when Jesus went to Calvary He was actually purchasing through His shed blood a people for Himself whom He knew from before the foundation of the world.  Now the names and identities of those people are known to God and not to us so that we go into all the world among every people group and preach the Gospel with the assurance that through the Gospel God will save His people.  This particular preacher obviously did not see it that way so he took us to the text in 2 Peter 3 [+/-]2 Peter 3 [3:1]This is now the second letter that I am writing to you, beloved. In both of them I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, [2]that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, [3]knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. [4]They will say, "Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation." [5]For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, [6]and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. [7]But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. [8]But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. [9]The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. [10]But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. [11]Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, [12]waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! [13]But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. [14]Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. [15]And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, [16]as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. [17]You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. [18]But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. (ESV)
where Peter says that God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.  Well, go read the text in context.  Do not ignore the context.  Peter is speaking to the church and his point is that God wants His church to live a life of complete and full repentance.  The term translated “come to” (choreo) means to “reach fullness.”  Peter is speaking to people who had fallen away and was exhorting them to come into the fullness of repentance.  Then he took us to 1 Tim. 4:10 [+/-]1 Timothy 4:10 [10]For to this end we toil and strive, because we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior of all people, especially of those who believe. (ESV)
where Paul says that Jesus is the Savior of all men, especially those who believe.  Now what does that mean?  Does it mean that Jesus saves everybody and then there is special salvation for those who believe?  Does it mean that Jesus died for everybody but His blood is applied only to those who believe?  Could be, or does it mean that Jesus died for “all kinds of men” and that is those who believe?  And the Greek text lends itself to one of the last two but the preacher did not make that point because it did not help him to make the point that he wanted to make.

I prayed this last Sunday, “Lord, do not let me ever mislead this people.”  I mean that for my preaching and for myself as a preacher.  And yet I learned again this week that preachers are fallible men handling infallible truth and that we (I) must always be vigilant that whatever theological system we adopt, we must let it be totally secondary and always subject to being changed by this inerrant, infallible and fully sufficient Word of the living God.

Ephesians 2:1-10 [2:1]And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2]in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- [3]among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4]But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5]even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- [6]and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7]so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8]For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9]not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10]For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (ESV)

I want to give you three images to help us understand where we are when we start reading Ephesians 2 [+/-]Ephesians 2 [2:1]And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2]in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- [3]among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4]But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5]even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- [6]and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7]so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8]For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9]not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10]For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [11]Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- [12]remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. [13]But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [14]For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility [15]by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, [16]and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. [17]And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. [18]For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. [19]So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [20]built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21]in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. [22]In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (ESV)
.  If this were a musical piece we could say that Ephesians two follows from a culminating crescendo.  If this were a speech we would say that Ephesians 2 [+/-]Ephesians 2 [2:1]And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2]in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience-- [3]among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4]But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5]even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ--by grace you have been saved-- [6]and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7]so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8]For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9]not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10]For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. [11]Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- [12]remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. [13]But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. [14]For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility [15]by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, [16]and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. [17]And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. [18]For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. [19]So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, [20]built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, [21]in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. [22]In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. (ESV)
flows from the center of what is being communicated.  And if this were a landscape we would say that Ephesians two comes just as we arrive at the peak of the highest mountain from which everything around us and below us is seen with clarity and correctly.  And the culminating crescendo, the center of communication, and the mountain peak is the church.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

2 Timothy 3-4 [3:1]But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. [2]For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, [3]heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self- control, brutal, not loving good, [4]treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, [5]having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people. [6]For among them are those who creep into households and capture weak women, burdened with sins and led astray by various passions, [7]always learning and never able to arrive at a knowledge of the truth. [8]Just as Jannes and Jambres opposed Moses, so these men also oppose the truth, men corrupted in mind and disqualified regarding the faith. [9]But they will not get very far, for their folly will be plain to all, as was that of those two men. [10]You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, [11]my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra--which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. [12]Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, [13]while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [14]But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15]and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16]All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17]that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. [4:1]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: [2]preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [3]For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [4]and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. [5]As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. [6]For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. [7]I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [8]Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. [9]Do your best to come to me soon. [10]For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. [11]Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. [12]Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. [13]When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. [14]Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. [15]Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. [16]At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! [17]But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. [18]The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. [19]Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. [20]Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. [21]Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers. [22]The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. (ESV)

But wouldn’t you love for what he preaches to be true.  I am going to practice positive optimism toward my 38 inch (oops I almost lied) 40+ inch waistline.  I am sucking in right now and straining hard.  I am positively optimistic that by the time I finish this blog, I will be a bad boy 34 inches in he waist.  Believe with me brother and sister.  Join with me in this positive optimism so that we can see taller people and thinner waistlines.  And while I am at it I am believing with positive optimism for hair growth on my head and for psoriasis to pass away.  I would even be positive over one out of the two.  What about you?  Write like this and it all sounds crazy.  And I wished that that was all that it is.  It is far beyond crazy.  It is totally corrupt.  It is Rev. Osteen a complete and total perversion of the person and purpose of God.   I can only hope that my friends who are passing through dark valleys right now did not hear you and do not listen to you.  I can only pray that those who are so faithful to Jesus while fighting so many forces of darkness do not get deceived by the likes of you.  You may sound good and look great on the curvy couch but I wonder what it will be for you and for me when we stand before the Bema Seat of our sovereign God?

I am preaching this week in the kind of church that gave me my start.  It was first at Tabor Baptist and then at Clark’s Station.  The first had about thirty members and the second about sixty.  Great people with generous hearts they loved me and listened to me preach.  They must have had very gracious hearts or some really tenacious skin.  I look back on those days and wonder how they did it.  They were too kind to me and trusted me to lead them.  Then it was on to another church in the same county where these two were located and then ten years in the wonderful church that God gave me during seminary days:  all of them relatively small and all of them very significant in shaping me into who I am today.  I tear up even as I write these words and think about the hundreds of saints of God who have touched my life and made me better.  From James Echols at Tabor to Earl Young at Christiansburg, from Martha Grimaud at Clark’s Station to Catherine Miller at Christiansburg, and too many in the current church to even begin to name.  God has been so good to me in giving me so many good and godly people in my life over the course of these years, and all of them have come into my life through the church.

I preach this week with a sense of great gratitude to God for the life He has given me and I preach this week with a deep sense of obligation to the smaller churches. Oh, how I would love to do more of this.  It is for me a way of giving back in part what these special churches gave to me when I was just beginning my ministry.  I love this calling that God has given me and I love His people.  How in the world someone could call themselves a Christian and not be a part of His Church is beyond my ability to believe.  I know that such a person does not belong to Jesus; that is basic biblical teaching.  And I grieve for people like that because their hearts must be so empty.  What do professing believers who try to live apart from the church do on Sunday morning or Sunday night, or Wednesday night?  I would be lonely if not lost without those precious times with my family.  I recently attended a conference where I arrived home on a Wednesday night and did not go to church.  I did not feel guilty, but I did feel empty.  I missed my family.  And this week has stirred in me once again just how much He loves the church and just how much I love her too.

2 Timothy 3:10-4 [+/-]2 Timothy 3:10-4:22 [10]You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, [11]my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra--which persecutions I endured; yet from them all the Lord rescued me. [12]Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted, [13]while evil people and impostors will go on from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived. [14]But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it [15]and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. [16]All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, [17]that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. [4:1]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: [2]preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. [3]For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, [4]and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. [5]As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. [6]For I am already being poured out as a drink offering, and the time of my departure has come. [7]I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. [8]Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. [9]Do your best to come to me soon. [10]For Demas, in love with this present world, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica. Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. [11]Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. [12]Tychicus I have sent to Ephesus. [13]When you come, bring the cloak that I left with Carpus at Troas, also the books, and above all the parchments. [14]Alexander the coppersmith did me great harm; the Lord will repay him according to his deeds. [15]Beware of him yourself, for he strongly opposed our message. [16]At my first defense no one came to stand by me, but all deserted me. May it not be charged against them! [17]But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. [18]The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. [19]Greet Prisca and Aquila, and the household of Onesiphorus. [20]Erastus remained at Corinth, and I left Trophimus, who was ill, at Miletus. [21]Do your best to come before winter. Eubulus sends greetings to you, as do Pudens and Linus and Claudia and all the brothers. [22]The Lord be with your spirit. Grace be with you. (ESV)
:8

Paul was approaching the finish line. He could not see it, but he could surely sense it. He had a keen awareness that he was on his last lap in this long race and as he anticipated his crossing over he would write, “I am already being poured out as a drink offering and the time of my departure is at hand.” He anticipated his death to come at the hands of the Roman government as they had accused him of treason against Rome and would execute him by beheading unless he would acknowledge the Lordship of Jesus. But it was because of the Lordship of Jesus that he could look death in the face even by beheading and know that it was only the departure from this world toward the world for which he had longed from the first moment the Lord Jesus made Himself known to Him on the road to Damascus. So, Paul could right about what he faced: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith,” and he anticipates receiving the reward from the righteous judge. Augustine reminds us that for Paul this crown of righteousness had importance only because of the One who gave it because “the crown given by the righteous judge could only be given because of the grace that had been given to Paul by the merciful Father.” So, it is not the crown that was the glory for Paul but living for the glory of the one who wears the crown as great God, gracious Savior, and generous Spirit poured upon and into all who believe. And Paul had lived his life under the guidance of this Sovereign God in order by the power of His Spirit to communicate the Truth of the Word of God the center of which is the Lord Jesus Christ. It is thus no surprise that at the very end, in the very last words that we have from Paul; he is teaching a young preacher whom he had been mentoring about the preacher’s place. It has been such a delight in recent weeks for me to be able to hear again what Paul says and it is such a sacred privilege to be able to share it with you today.

(This is also the ordination service for Michael Godfrey, Youth Pastor!)

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

The Walk to Emmaus is based on a sound biblical model that has been tested over time.  The weekend flows on the basis of the model or plan for the weekend.  The weekend is not designed for evangelism and not even really for edification; it is designed to develop leaders for the church who will be taken by the Spirit of God through the Word of God into deeper dimensions of delight in God during the three day Walk to Emmaus.  The weekend is a pattern that was designed to be used of God to build up the local church and to encourage pastors, not to produce super-saints who return to their churches to confront their pastors and to change their churches.  But whenever an Emmaus Community begins to tweak the model or to sponsor as pilgrims people who are not already leaders in the churches, the model is in trouble.  The path too often trod in the past by those who have gone before us begins to emerge.  It looks like this:  The Walk to Emmaus is a place to which immature believers are sent and in some cases even those who are not believers at all, and the measure of the manifestation of the Spirit becomes emotional outpourings including charismatic contrivances like being slain in the spirit or speaking in tongues, only one of which is biblical and it is the proclamation of the Gospel in a language that is not native to the speaker but is known among the language of the world and  is permitted only when one who speaks that language is present to interpret.  When the model is tweaked and the measure of meaning becomes emotional outpourings and charismatic contrivances, the Walk to Emmaus becomes a travesty that can in fact produce heresy.

When I was actively involved in the Walk to Emmaus I heard a pastor talk about what I wrote about in the paragraph above.  I thought that he surely must be a patent liberal or paranoid.  I could not see that happening.  And then I saw it and it grieved me.  What it produces is people who go on a “walk” only to return and think that true Christianity comes through the Walk to Emmaus.  They make Emmaus their church and measure all of life in the church by how excited we get in church.  They see worship as praying down the spirit and then participating in a party atmosphere of praise that includes everything but those elements that truly constitute genuine worship.  Some of these churches that have become weekly gatherings of a perverted Walk to Emmaus model sing a lot and preach and teach almost not at all so that what is the heart of genuine biblical worship is gone.  And preachers who don’t participate in this kind of party atmosphere are seen as men who either need to go on the Walk to Emmaus or leave the church, and these folks are willing to help them do either.  This state of affairs is both sad and sinful and those who would think this way don’t need to walk to Emmaus; they need to walk southeast from there about seven miles until they arrive at a little hill called Calvary.  You can’t go to Emmaus until you have been to Calvary and some of what I hear and see in the little part of the world in which I live makes me sad and mad; people who have been to Emmaus and want everybody to go and want to educate or eliminate those who haven’t been.  Such people need to take a hike.  They don’t need to take anything with them.  They need to go empty to Calvary in repentance where they might just receive a true baptism in the Holy Spirit that always kills pride and brings humility and love to life.

I loved my Walk to Emmaus.  I grieve over what I have seen happening and it began even while I was working walks.  I hope that it has all changed by now and the community is back to the model.  It is too good a gift of God to be perverted by those who in the name of being led by the Spirit just want to do their own thing for their own glory so that people will praise them.  Maybe Calvary is where I need to go even again today because the One who shed His blood there for me can heal the hurts in the body when the body makes a mockery of such beauty as is found in the Walk to Emmaus.

I really don’t remember how long ago, but a few years back I had this really clear impression from God that He wanted me to fast from football of all kinds for an entire season.  I would have rather it been food.  It was harder for me at the first than I could have ever imagined.  But after four or five weeks something happened inside me that changed me.  I saw that I did not love football; I was worshiping at the altar of something that has no eternal significance at all.  I was addicted to the game.  We say in recovery ministries that men and women who are addicted to drugs have to be free of them for a long period of time before they can begin to see on the one side how much they loved and worshiped the drug and on the other side what life really is about without the drug.  That is close to what happened to me.  I knew two things after that almost six month stretch.  First, I would never, ever be able to go back to the way I had once lived.  In fact, the way I had been living in relationship to a game was scarry to me.  I mean when I wasn’t watching a game during the Fall, I was talking with someone about the dawgs or the bears of the sparatans, watching ESPN, or reading ESPN the Magazine.  I couldn’t get enough.  Second, I began to see more realistically than I had ever seen before how much time and energy is wasted on things that we esteem with value that have no real, lasting value.  Now if you had spoken the above words to me about five to six years ago,  I would have called you a fanatic while thinking you a fool.  But hear me out.

I went to Jacksonville fo the world’s largest outdoor cocktail party one time.  It was when I really loved football and really loved the dawgs.  Please don’t tell anybody but I really don’t get involved anymore emotionally with whether they win or lose.  At the end of the day, it is no big deal.  I mean what lasting difference does it make either way?  I was appalled and what I saw going in and was galled by the time I left, and not a little bit fearful.  The year was 1973.  I suppose it has gotten worse.  But that is not my point.  Here is my point:  multiple thousands of people will be in that stadium on Saturday.  Some may well have spent part of the week in the area.  Some will stay over on Saturday night.  Huge amounts of money will be spent on frivolities.  A game will be played that will last just over three hours.  A team will win and a team will lose.  People will holler and scream.    A larger number will be intoxicated.  And nobody of that number will question how much money they spent for something that has no lasting value BUT some of those people would be the first in line to complain that the church is always asking for money.  And they would profess to be believers.

Here is a suggestion for you.  Go to the game.  Have a great time.  But show yourself a child of God.  Practice good financial responsibility.  Pass out some tracts or New Testaments.  Tell at least five people about Jesus.  There will be multiple thousands present.  Let me tell you a true story.  I have only been to one professional football game.  Ashley Hammett took me, George Mobley and Mark Phillips to see the Falcons lose to somebody.  We had a great time.  We ate a great meal ahead of time and found a great parking place.  We were nearing the stadium when we heard these guys preaching the Gospel.  Now I have to be honest:  I didn’t want to go near them.  I was a little embarassed.  But you know what Ashley did:  he went over to them to thank them and to say, “that guy right there is my preacher.”  I had no choice so I went over to talk with them and was so impressed with both their honesty and their humility.  It ruined the game for me because I sat there popping peanuts and drinking my five dollar soda knowing that the real fun was outside the arena with those guys holding up the posters and proclaiming the Gospel.  Go Dawgs. Go Gators.  Go Jackets.  Go Spartans.  Go Bears.  Go God.

I saw it again today.  A coed at Penn State and her colleague had designed the white tee shirts for the white out Saturday at a Penn State football game.  The front of the shirt did have a remarkable resemblance to a cross so much so that six people complained that the shirt had a religious message.  Now in our current culture such complaints from so few people could cause loud protests if not a lawsuit.  The coed who helped create the shirt said this morning on Fox News that she and her colleague had no religious intentions in the design of the teeshirt. So far, so good.  Then she said, “don’t we know anyway that symbols have no inherent meaning; we bring to them whatever meaning we want to bring.’  She spoke as clearly as I have heard the central truth of our postmodern culture.  Symbols have no inherent meaning.  The flag can mean whatever you want it mean:  wave it or burn it unless of course you wave it in front of the wrong people and then you are a bigot who is intolerant and you have to be restrained.  This has already happened.  The cross can mean the place where Jesus died or it can mean that you are a person who trusts the cross but if  you make the cross to visible as a Jesus symbol and are to vocal about it, you have to be silenced.  That is happening too.  The truth is that symbols do have inherent meaning and it is when that inherent meaning is  estalbished as the only meaning that our postmodern culture cries, “crucify him.”

Want more.  Fox News also did a story this morning on the young man from Home Depot where I visit once every three months just to walk through and feel like a real man who wore a pen that pictured a flag with the words, “in God we Trust.”  He also took his Bible to work with him each day and read it during his lunch.  He was fired.  Home Depot it seems issues pens to its employees to wear on their vests and the ones with “in God we trust” violate company policy.  Why?  If symbols have no inherent meaning and we invest them with meaning then those who read his pen can make it mean whatever they want it to mean.  And what it means in our day is that the God who sets Himself over the world as Sovereign Lord and Judge is not the God in whom we trust.  Our God is the God of Hindus, Muslims, Mormoms, etc.  He is a know nothing and do nothing God who gathers all these chickens in his roost.  Such a view is at the center of the collapse of our culture.  If we keep holding on to it without a real reformation in our land, we will see one day just how significant are these symbols.  They have real meaning.  And the one who is behind them has real power.

So, what are some of the central components of being raised right.  First, you have to show real respect for authority by saying “sir” and “maam” to anybody who is five years older than you are or who appears to be, and just to be safe; it is really impressive when you say anybody who seems to have graduated.  Now, I am all for respect for authority and saying “sir” and “maam” but the reason for that is obedience to the Word of God that commands me not only to respect those in authority but to obey them.  Second, you must be a true patriot by honoring the flag and respecting the miliatary.  I am all for that too.  I love this country and believe it to be our responsibility to defend it.  But I also beleive that I can be a great partiot and be a pagan.  My actions as a patriot do not tell me much about who I am as a child of God.  Third, I do good deeds for people in the community who are older than I am, in greater need than I am, and who share my values.  Well, I agree with that too as far as it goes.  It does not go nearly far enough.  The good deeds that I do as a child of God are those that God gives me to do and I do them indiscriminately for HIs glory and for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel.  I do not restrict the good deeds to those who share my values and I do not do them either just to do them or to make me feel good about myself.  But people who are raised right to a lot of right things for all the wrong reasons.

Now here is what all my ramblings are about.  Let me lay this down first:  I believe that I was saved by the grace of God when God chose by His grace to save me, BUT one of the realities that kept me from being able to hear the Gospel was the kinds of affirmations I got from adults while I was living like the devil.  I remember it well.  Men would say to me because of my public displays of patriotism or because of good deeds done at the gas station where I worked, “boy, you are alright.  It is obvious that George and Evelyn raised you right.”  I would swell with pride when they would say that and if God had not chosen to bust my pride bubble and change my life I would have this day been on my way to hell and not knowing it because I believed that I was raised right.

Philippians 1:1-2 [+/-]Philippians 1:1-2 [1:1]Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons: [2]Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (ESV)

One of the very worst developments in the history of the church as it relates to polity or to how the church does her work is the democratization of the church. The democratization of the church is simply the view that the church exists of the people and by the people and for the people. It produced a polity in which the membership by majority vote determined the direction of the church in almost all matters of the life of the church. This way of doing church did not exist at all prior to the Reformation of the sixteenth century and then was put down as heresy wherever it bubbled up until in the late nineteenth century it began to take hold until by the middle of the twentieth century it was accepted as the way of life in the church for many Protestant denominations and particularly for Baptists. It was a historical anomaly that produced a biblical travesty that represented and represents theological treason because it is a way of doing church that is not found at all in the very book that we hold up and to which we submit as the inerrant, infallible and fully sufficient Word of God.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

This is also the ordination service for new Deacons Kevin Booth, and David Stembridge

Well, here is the text.  It hit me hard when I first read it:  “Arise, O Lord!  Confront him, subdue him!  Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, from men by your hand, O Lord; from men of the world whose portion is in this life.  You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants.  As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake I shall be satisfied with your likeness” (Psalm 17:14-15 [+/-]Psalm 17:14-15 [14]from men by your hand, O LORD, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants. [15]As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with your likeness.
). Now it is true that this Psalm says that parents are not to take care of their children beyond a certain age; we do not live for our children.  That is not what honors God because it is a failure to obey His Word.  But the Psalmist goes further than this.  He says that people who focus themselves just on their family are not only worldly people but are the enemies of God.  Read the Psalm.  If it is true, then those who would argue “family first” will find that they receive great applause from the world but they do not hear in the words of Max Lucado “the applause of heaven.”  Jesus says that we must love Him above all others and that includes our family.

Think about it.  If we argue family first then we are saying that the priority in life is family first and then all else.  If this is true, then we would find it in Scripture but it is not there.  What is there is that our relationship with God is first and our responsibility is to nurture that relationship because it becomes the foundation for our being in and to our families what we need to be.  Unless I am fully sanctified I need the grace of God through the Word of God which comes in part, I would say in larger part; through my involvement with the family of God.  It is not that we should forsake our families.  It is simply that we should ask, particularly godly men should ask; are my family involvments built around my family’s involvement with the people of God in the worship of God?  And if we see slippage we ought to ask about what or who is controlling our family.  The best route for Satan to travel into your heart and home is the one that is being travelled by so many others that seems to be right because it sounds so right.  And saying “family first” seems to be right because it sounds so right.  But is it?

Titus 3:1-8 [+/-]Titus 3:1-8 [3:1]Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, [2]to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. [3]For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. [4]But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5]he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, [6]whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7]so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [8]The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. (ESV)

… We need to be biblically clear about the work of the Holy Spirit in salvation. This begins with our understanding of what the Bible means by salvation. Let me give you a definition and then give you a couple of texts to help us see more clearly the definition. Salvation is the work of God by His Spirit and through His Word that begins with regeneration and culminates with glorification and what happens between the two is the demonstration of our declaration of salvation. The term refers to everything that happens from the moment that we give ourselves to Jesus until that moment that we enter heaven. This way of seeing salvation is biblical; it is found in the very form of the word for salvation and it is found everywhere the word is used and that is hundreds of times. Let me just give you two or three. The angel tells Joseph that his betrothed will give birth to a son who “will save His people from their sins” (Mt. 1:21). Paul makes it plain in Romans that “whoever calls upon the Name of the Lord will be saved.” This is a future tense verb. And John 3:17 [+/-]John 3:17 [17]For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. (ESV)
makes it clear that Jesus came into the world so that many in the world “might be saved” by Him. The verb points to what He does during the course of time. So Salvation is the work of the grace of God by the power of the Holy Spirit that begins with the new birth and comes to fullness when by our departure we enter the presence of God forever. And the first step in this journey that is the work of the Holy Spirit is called regeneration or new birth. …

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Let me give you just three examples of words that I hear every day that I would have never used around adults when I was a child and do not use now.  First, I hear people all the time saying something like, “I knew I was screwed when . . . .”  I blush when I hear it.  It has heavy sexual connotations.  Now it could be true that those who use the word do not know those connotations.  They may be thinking in terms of a piece of metal with threads.  I don’t think so.  They may not be thinking at all.  I think that could be true.  Or I hear people saying, “that sucks . . .”  I shudder.  That has wicked sexual connotations.  And thirdly I hear even in the church building spoken by kids, “Oh crap!”  I am incensed.  My first thought is, “why not go all the way man; use the “s” word.”  And please don’t pull out your Greek on me here to tell me that Paul used a term like that.  He did.  Once.  In a passionate plea for people to leave behind everything else to follow Jesus.  I do not know how common was the use of the word “skebala” in Paul’s day and I do not know that we know whether it was simply slang or considered a vulgarity.  What I do know is that it is only found once in a very passionate plea for people to recognize that there are no almost committed Christians.  It is either all the way or no way at all.

Let me tell you what my deepest concern is:  such use of language in common conversation that once was considered more formal “cussin” shows that the standards in our culture have been lowered.  We don’t expect as much anymore of anybody.  We are content with mediocrity.  That is why spiritually I can live in a town where if I say the larger majority of our town and county are not saved if we use biblical standards, I would say that which would shock some people.  It shouldn’t, but it does.  And it does because we have lowered the standards.  That is why we can have people who sincerely profess to be believers in Jesus who show no evidence of that in their lives.  And they don’t see anything wrong with that:  why, they’ve prayed the prayer and walked the aisle and thus consider themselves saved.  That is not only biblical demagoguery it is a sure and certain sign of our having lowered the standards.  It shows in our language.  The Bible calls us to be careful with our speech and not to speak in way that would offend the cause of he Gospel.  The Gospel itself is offensive particularly when is brought to bear on the way people are living their lives.  Let it be left as a forumla to be believed and it doesn’t bother people but inject it into the mainstream of life and people get upset.

As I said at the beginning those over fifty who can find this blog and read it will most likely agree with me; those under fifty will be mystified and miffed.  What I cited above even among solid believers has become common to daily conversation.  All I am asking is that we think about what we say and the historical sources from which those words emerge.  They do have a history and that history gives them their meaning.  I can tell you where you won’t go wrong:  speak words that bring glory to God and declare the truth of the Gospel.  That is language filled with light and seasoned with salt.

I was glad to get home yesterday although it had been an enjoyable few days with my daughter and son-in-law and our grandson.  We celebrated his second birthday with a big birthday party on Saturday.  His namesake was present for the party and it was good to see him.  He and I sat and watched the Ohio State football game together.  It wasn’t UGA but I have heard that I did not want to see that game anyway.  We ate hamburgers and had cake and ice cream.  Sunday was a huge treat for me as I got to go hear Alistair Begg preach not once but twice.  I went to the 8:30 service at Parkside to hear Begg and then went to the 10:00 service at the church where Haley and Jarrod are members and worshiped with them.  The contrasts between the two was striking to me.  But that is another blog.  Spent Sunday afternoon hanging out with the grandson and the same on Monday before making the long drive home on Monday.  Great time with the family but glad to be home.  It is cold in Cleveland already.  It was raining with dark gray clouds hanging right over our heads.  It made me feel weary and dreary; I wanted to go home.  But I learned something about myself and others while there that was so interesting to me.

I met a young man who just moved into the neighborhood where Haley and Jarrod live.  He is a pastor with a very small denomination, slightly over 100,000 in the whole denomination (for comparison remember that there are almost 16 million Southern Baptists).  I asked him how he liked Cleveland and he said, “well, (imagine deep Chicago accent here), I am adjusting; I didn’t know how I would do moving to a smaller place; I have always lived in Chicago.”  I stopped him:  “you mean, this is small to you!”   “Yeah, man (imagine deep Chicago accent here) but we are adjusting ok; think we gonna’  like it alright.”  Wow, I thought.  If Cleveland was engulfing me in its size and shape, I guess Chicago would just eat me alive.  I wanted to come home.  And I made it.  Glad to be here.  It is not everything it ought to be this sleepy little ‘boro, but it is home to me for now and I am glad to be home.

1 Kings 8:54-61 [54]Now as Solomon finished offering all this prayer and plea to the LORD, he arose from before the altar of the LORD, where he had knelt with hands outstretched toward heaven. [55]And he stood and blessed all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice, saying, [56]"Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant. [57]The LORD our God be with us, as he was with our fathers. May he not leave us or forsake us, [58]that he may incline our hearts to him, to walk in all his ways and to keep his commandments, his statutes, and his rules, which he commanded our fathers. [59]Let these words of mine, with which I have pleaded before the LORD, be near to the LORD our God day and night, and may he maintain the cause of his servant and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires, [60]that all the peoples of the earth may know that the LORD is God; there is no other. [61]Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the LORD our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day." (ESV)

This morning Youth Pastor Mike Godfrey shared from the book of 1st Kings some wisdom from Solomon contained in his benediction, and some tangible characteristics that identified the wicked Kings, and also some characteristics of the good kings.

Page one has a story about a dog fighting ring that was broken up by our local deputies.  Thank God for these men and what they do on a daily basis.  We are to praise God for them.  At the bottom of page one is another story about the breaking up of methamphetamine making ring complete with pictures.  Most of these men in these pictures look as if they had just been using, not as if they had just been making.  I prayed for these men when I saw their pictures and again praised God for the good work of law enforcement in catching them.  I prayed for these men who were caught that God would mercifully save them and that they would somehow be kept off the streets for the rest of their days.  You would have to have been where I have been and have seen what I have seen in order to understand why I feel so strongly about this kind of thing.  Lord, save these men.  Guardians of the prison system, keep them locked up so that they can do no more harm to young men and young women in our communities.  Then I began to thumb through the pages and then is when I saw it.  Middle of the paper, center of the page, two young ladies on each side of  a young man with one young lady and the young man with beer bottles in hand, all with smiling faces above the caption, “hoedown for the hometown.”  Then the other pictures caught me with what looked like gregarious behavior from people around a table whose centerpiece was enough beer bottles to create more than a little buzz.  That is when it hit me!  The naked out in the open hypocrisy of the whole thing:  showing the somber faces of those captured for making methamphetamine and the smiling faces of those who are having a “hoedown for the hometown.”  I immediately thought to myself, “wonder how many people at these events were pulled over on the way home and given a brief breathalizer exam??”  I can answer that question.  Because while living in a culture where alcohol is defined by medical professionals as a drug we still distinguish between smoking a joint and sipping a beer.  I don’t.  I don’t do either.  But if Idid one, I would consider it just as appropriate to do the other.  A drug is a drug is a drug.  And that is what got me.  Condemning the making and using of one drug on the front page while codoning and indeed celebrating in the name of philantrhopic efforts the use of another drug on another page, come now; let’s either condone and celebrate both or condemn and castigate both.  Let’s not live by double standards unless of course we have been duped by “diabolos” or “the devil” whose whole goal is to get every society to adopt and live by double standards.  The pictures produce pain for me because they make plain that “diabolos” is making it work quite well here.

Titus 3:1-8 [3:1]Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, [2]to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people. [3]For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. [4]But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, [5]he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, [6]whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, [7]so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. [8]The saying is trustworthy, and I want you to insist on these things, so that those who have believed in God may be careful to devote themselves to good works. These things are excellent and profitable for people. (ESV)

We live in the New Day.  Ezekiel, Isaiah, Joel and Jeremiah would teach us about this new day.  We looked two weeks ago at the character and content of this new day.  It is a day of individual responsibility before God.  It is a day when God will save His people by the work of His sovereign grace.  It is the day that is the beginning of what is known in the Bible as the last day or last days because it is during this day in which we live that God is doing His most definitive work for the saving of sinners and the shaping of His church for the glory of His Name.  We live in this new day.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

What I mean is that I can know about I care by how much I care about those whom I do not know.  I cannot and must now measure my care for the lost by how much I really care about those whom I know.  It is both right and really easy to care about those whom I know.  I must care about my family and friends who do not know Jesus, but what about those who are suffering from the earthquakes and possible Tsunamis in Indonesia or the hopeless and helpless in Iran?  Here is where it gets dangerous for me.  We met for church last night and had our prayer time.  A part of that prayer time was my introducing a thirty day prayer guide for the people of Iran.  God has His people in Iran, literally.  The church is alive and active in this country.  This prayer guide that is beautifully done asks us to pray for the church in Iran.  I introduced it at our prayer time and Bible Study last night.  We ordered a hundred copies.  When I was locking up and turning out lights last night, I noticed that most of them were still in the box!  Oh, was my spirit deflated.  I thought:  how could we?  We just gathered for prayer and what is more important for us to pray for and about than the work of the Gospel in places like Iran?  How could we call ourselves a praying people and walk out of this room leaving not fifty of one hundred behind but seventy plus?  I stood there stunned but then I remembered some things.

Here is where this article really gets difficult to write and to read.  Here is where I hope that I am really wrong.  And I may be wrong in terms of the fullness of what I am about to write but I don’t think I am fully wrong about the focus.  First, I remembered as I stood there that so much of our church that meets on Wednesday night is involved in Bible Studies so they were not present to hear the announcement about the prayer opportunity.  Second, I remembered that so many of us who do not participate in the Bible Studies are Baptist traditionalists who want everything in the church to be like it was in the fifties or sixties, even prayer meeting where the focus is on us.  This is where the difficulty of this article turns to despair for me.  We had just prayed but most of the prayers were about us and for us:  family and friends about whom we care.  But the truth is that we do no know how much we care until we can truly care for those whom we do not know, like our brothers and sisters in Iran and elsewhere.  And if we do not care enough to pray for them as much as we pray for family and friends, we do not really care at all because it seems to me that our prayers even for our family and friends are about them getting better from something that is bad so that we can feel better about them.

Oh how I struggle with these issues.  Some would hear me saying that we should not pray for our family and friends or we should not pray about physical issues.  That is not what I am saying.  That would be as much a failure to trust God as the failure to pray for those we do not know.  But there is something wrong with us when we can spend time praying for those we know and walk out of a room with no attention at  all to a powerful weapon right before us that God can and will use to change lives in a dark land.  I see it every time we have a prayer time in our church where we don’t focus on ourselves.  Some wonder out loud to me after those times why we didn’t have “prayer meetin.”  I long for the day when we want to see the glory of God manifest in the world in every place as much as we long for a ninety year old family member or friend to be healed.  This last line is really difficult even to write:  I know the former in the sentence above is the will of God; I am not sure at all about the latter.  If that ninety year old family member is saved, it may be God’s will to take them home.  But we do not know yet how to pray that way or is it that we do not know how to pray?  Lord, would you teach me how to pray so that I can really know that I really care?? Please?

First, the ironman competition in Augusta.  I read with interest the long list of names posted in the paper on Monday.  No, I did not read every name but it was a long list and I read about all the positive things that were said about it but nobody answered my question, “why did it have to be on the Lord’s Day?  Why couldn’t it have been held on Saturday?”  I think I know the answer to that question because Saturday is a day of worship across the South and nobody would try to take people from the sacred spaces from Columbia to Clemson or from Athens to Atlanta.  So that left only Sunday.  But who protested?  Who raised issues about it being on Sunday?  I didn’t hear any and Ididn’t raise any.  Why?  Because we have been lulled to sleep by a culture that is captured by the allure of the athletic.  The worship of the human body on the Lord’s Day seems a bit pagan to me but nobody seems to mind any more.  It is just the way things are.  But it bothered me.  Still does. 

Second, EBA and Burke County Football.  I am so proud of these young men and there untarnished records but I have two huge concerns.  Who among them is telling them that this is just a game and at the end of the day it is not an issue of ultimate importance?  Who among the coaching staffs is communicating that love for Jesus and His church is far more important than a game?  Who among them is saying to the student-athletes on Wednesday afternoon, “what we are doing here pales in importance in relationship to your being in church tonight; so we are going to cut practice short on Wednesday so that you can learn what is really important.”  We would consider a coach like that a fool; Jesus would call him wise.  Many professing Christian men would be the first at the coach’s door to complain, “how do you think we are going to win if you keep cutting practice short on Wednesday night?”  It bothers me when we just give Wednesday night to the world and say nothing.  We even play football games now on Wednesday and nobody says a word.  Not one single word.  We justify it, “well, at least it is not Sunday.”  But that is coming sooner than we know.  And what will we say then?  The same thing we are saying now, absolutely nothing.  Why?  Because our Christianity is so cultural that we would rather conform to the crowd than to risk the boos from others if we stand against them.

I would feel better about the whole thing if I knew that those who teach our athletes in all of our schools were unequivocal in communicating that what happnes on Friday night is a wonderful game but has no ultimate significance.  Fun to play and fun to win but at the end of the day it has no real significance in the matter of things eternal.  Oh, the day will come sooner than we think when many will show up at church on Sunday morning and dash out as soon as possible to make it in time for the Sunday afternoon sports event at the local school.  It is bad now. Pray that this day described above does not come.

Leviticus 23 [23:1]The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [2]"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, These are the appointed feasts of the LORD that you shall proclaim as holy convocations; they are my appointed feasts. [3]"Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places. [4]"These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, the holy convocations, which you shall proclaim at the time appointed for them. [5]In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at twilight, is the LORD's Passover. [6]And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD; for seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. [7]On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. [8]But you shall present a food offering to the LORD for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work." [9]And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [10]"Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you come into the land that I give you and reap its harvest, you shall bring the sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest to the priest, [11]and he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, so that you may be accepted. On the day after the Sabbath the priest shall wave it. [12]And on the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb a year old without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD. [13]And the grain offering with it shall be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil, a food offering to the LORD with a pleasing aroma, and the drink offering with it shall be of wine, a fourth of a hin. [14]And you shall eat neither bread nor grain parched or fresh until this same day, until you have brought the offering of your God: it is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. [15]"You shall count seven full weeks from the day after the Sabbath, from the day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. [16]You shall count fifty days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the LORD. [17]You shall bring from your dwelling places two loaves of bread to be waved, made of two tenths of an ephah. They shall be of fine flour, and they shall be baked with leaven, as firstfruits to the LORD. [18]And you shall present with the bread seven lambs a year old without blemish, and one bull from the herd and two rams. They shall be a burnt offering to the LORD, with their grain offering and their drink offerings, a food offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. [19]And you shall offer one male goat for a sin offering, and two male lambs a year old as a sacrifice of peace offerings. [20]And the priest shall wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before the LORD, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the LORD for the priest. [21]And you shall make proclamation on the same day. You shall hold a holy convocation. You shall not do any ordinary work. It is a statute forever in all your dwelling places throughout your generations. [22]"And when you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings after your harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the sojourner: I am the LORD your God." [23]And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [24]"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall observe a day of solemn rest, a memorial proclaimed with blast of trumpets, a holy convocation. [25]You shall not do any ordinary work, and you shall present a food offering to the LORD." [26]And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [27]"Now on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves and present a food offering to the LORD. [28]And you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God. [29]For whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people. [30]And whoever does any work on that very day, that person I will destroy from among his people. [31]You shall not do any work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwelling places. [32]It shall be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict yourselves. On the ninth day of the month beginning at evening, from evening to evening shall you keep your Sabbath." [33]And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, [34]"Speak to the people of Israel, saying, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month and for seven days is the Feast of Booths to the LORD. [35]On the first day shall be a holy convocation; you shall not do any ordinary work. [36]For seven days you shall present food offerings to the LORD. On the eighth day you shall hold a holy convocation and present a food offering to the LORD. It is a solemn assembly; you shall not do any ordinary work. [37]"These are the appointed feasts of the LORD, which you shall proclaim as times of holy convocation, for presenting to the LORD food offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings, sacrifices and drink offerings, each on its proper day, [38]besides the LORD's Sabbaths and besides your gifts and besides all your vow offerings and besides all your freewill offerings, which you give to the LORD. [39]"On the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the produce of the land, you shall celebrate the feast of the LORD seven days. On the first day shall be a solemn rest, and on the eighth day shall be a solemn rest. [40]And you shall take on the first day the fruit of splendid trees, branches of palm trees and boughs of leafy trees and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days. [41]You shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it in the seventh month. [42]You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All native Israelites shall dwell in booths, [43]that your generations may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God." [44]Thus Moses declared to the people of Israel the appointed feasts of the LORD. (ESV)

Murray Tilles of Light of Messiah Ministries in metro Atlanta visited us on this eve of Yom Kappur, to share with us more about the holidays that Jesus celebrated, being a Jew. This message really brings light the picture of Christ seen in the 9 Jewish Festivals, and also with an encouraging message to remember to continue reaching out to God’s chosen people.

form Light of Messiah’s website

“Why did God command the children of Israel to blow the shofar (the ram’s horn)? What is the scapegoat all about in Yom Kippur? Why did God command the Israelites to live in booths for seven days at the Feast of Tabernacles? What does it all mean to us as believers in Jesus? Learn how God was revealing the message of salvation through these beautiful holidays from the book of Leviticus. Yes, Leviticus can be interesting if you understand it.

The “Jesus in the Jewish Festivals” service will reveal God’s purpose in commanding Israel to celebrate the Feasts of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement and the Feast of Tabernacles. You will see not only the history of these beautiful festivals and how Jesus celebrated each of these festivals. You will also see how God’s plan for the world to be saved through Jesus is foreshadowed in each of these holidays.”

This is the memorial service for Cecil, please listen, and enjoy, and be encouraged!

There is an obituary and place to leave condolences, or perhaps encouraging message’s about brother Cecil

http://www.chanceandhydrick.com/2009/09/cecil-e-mccollum-sr/

Let me give you just one example of this in this blog.  I was reading Owen this morning as he is writing about our salvation by the grace of God alone rooted in the eternal election of God.  He argues that only those who do not know Scripture at all would argue that salvation is rooted in human choice and that God awaits our decision and delights in it when we finally make it!  Owen unashamedly calls such teaching heresy.  We in our day call it biblical.  The Modern American Version (MAV) of the Bible puts us in control of our lives and God exists to service our needs and interests.  We can put him off as long as we want, most often awaiting an announcement of a serious sickness before we get serious about religion.  And we consider it a horrible notion even to consider that God may have handed us over to His judgment before we got to the day of the diagnosis of whatever the illness could be.  What is simply sound biblical teaching in that regard is conidered by readers of the MAV to be an absolute horrible view of God.  Why is that such a horrible view of God?  Because it violates our control of our situation.  It puts us in submission and in subservience to God; whoever heard such a thing?

In this same section of Owen that I was reading this morning he writes very candidly that those who hold to human choice as the chief determining factor in salvation are decieved by the devil.  He doesn’t defend his statement because for him it is simply basic biblical truth.  No writer holds more soundly to the absolute sovereignty of God in all things than John Owen.  He spent so much time pondering Calvary and what it means that he cannot fathom that God would do that to His one and only Son and chance the salvation of sinners.  Owen writes convincingly of what the Bible communicates clearly:  God purchased the salvation of sinners upon the cross, sinners whom God knows by name and for whom Jesus died so that their death died in His death on the cross.  That is so hard for us in our day.  It is hard for me.  As a freedom loving, control centered American who lived too long off the MAV, it is an insult to my intelligence.  But that is as it should be because God has chosen the way that seems foolish to us to make known His wonderful way and work of wisdom.  Get you some Owen and read it.  Stay with it.  It will bless your life.

But when is it that you know that you have crossed the line into Reformed Theology?  I would suggest that there are at least three indicators that are connected with anthropology, theology proper and soteriology.  So long as you think that there is in humans a basic goodness that comes from God that is a part of the imago Dei so that we have from birth by God’s design the ability to choose right or wrong, or the ability by nature to choose without any assistance from God to walk in His ways, then you have not crossed the line.  As soon as you acknowlege that there is no goodnessi n us and that we are born depraved before God and can only choose that which is consistent with our nature so that as those who are born into sin, we choose to walk in the way of sin, then you have crossed over toward Reformed Theology.  Secondly, when you argue that our relationship to God is initiated by us and that primarily either out of our intellect or our emotions; you have not crossed over.  But when you begin to argue that our relationship with God begins with His initiative, then you have come into Calvinism whether you use the name or not.  You are affriming the sovereignty of God and His absolute inititative in your salvation.  Thirdly, when you argue that your salvation was by your will alone, that you just one day made a conscious, rational choice to obey God; you have not crossed over.  But when you begin to argue that your choice to commit your life to Christ was due to God doing something in your life that you could not explain so that there came a moment when you committed your life to Christ becuase of the work of His grace in your life, you have crossed over.  You have begun to creep toward Calvinism while not knowing that you are doing so.

I am convinced that there are far more Calvinists than admit that there are Calvinists.  Can I give you a little test here?  Ready.  Answer these three questions:  Are you a sinner by nautre who has no desire for God or are you a basically good person who from childhood has known taht you needed to choose God?  Number two:  were you saved by God’s grace through faith by the Gospel or did you simply choose one Sunday for no reason except it was as good a day as any to give your life to Jesus?  Number three:  Is there evidence in your life that God is at work both in callling you and consecrating you or are you just working hard every day hoping that you are going to make it to heaven in the end, knowing that you could be saved today and lost tomorrow because just as getting saved was your choice, it is logically necessary that staying saved is the same?  How did you do?  If you answered yes to the first part of each question above, sit down now and take a deep breath:  you are a Calvinist but if you answered yes to the second part of each question, well you are not.  And if you answered yes on the first part on some but not on all, well you are just confused.  Come to think of it, that may be the most common theological perspective that I encounter.

I saw above all that the Bible is the book that comes from God and was given by Him to us as a testimony to His greatness and glory.  What is our salvation except a monumental tribute to the glory and greatness of God.  I began to see from the shadows of the Old Testament and from the fuller light of the New Testament that this God for whom the Bible exists and from whom it came is a God who creates and controls.  He is the sovereign God.  I began to see alongside this that two of the greatest myths made up by mankind and manifest as “truth” among most of us are the myths of absolute human freedom and total human control.  The simple version of this sinister way of seeing life is that we are free to choose whatever we want and we are in complete control of our lives.  Tell that to Cyrus of Persia or go ask Saul of  Tarsus, our just dip anywhere in the Bible and see if the Bible leads you to that conclusion.  I can challenge you to do that because I know that it won’t.  You may come to that conclusion because what you beleive about what the Bible says is more powerful in your life than the plain truth of the Bible, but you will not get that from Scripture.  I began to see that my evangelistic methods came from the culture of the church that I had adopted and not from what the Bible teaches.  Invitations to the altar with long and emotionally charged songs to enhance the response are represent a testimony to human pride and against God’s power to save.  I began to see that the Bible teaches that I was born dead in my sins and that the Holy Spirit brought me to life through the preaching of the Gospel and granted me the gifts of repentance and faith in order to turn from my sin to Jesus.  I began to see that I could trust God to work by His Spirit and through His Word to save sinners.  I did not have to play mind or heart games with people.  I just needed to be true to the Word of God and preach the Word of God.  I began to see that God not only calls and chooses for Himself those for whom He sent Jesus to die on the cross so that when Jesus died on the cross He died to purchase the salvation of sinners, but those for whom Jesus paid the price of His blood and saves by His grace He will keep by His Spirit as He gives them all that is needed to perservere in faithfulness to Him during the entirety of their pilgrimage in this life.  I began to see and to speak what the Reformers of the sixteenth century called “the doctrines of grace.”  They are simply the theological truths that are the heart of the canon.  That’s all.  It was only after reading and studying and preaching this way for over a year that somebody gave me a title.  I am ok with wearing the title because I know what it means:  it simply means that by the grace of God and for His glory I am seeking to be faithful to the Word of God.  That was all I was doing before I got the title or the label.

I was at a conerence last year when during a Q and A someone asked, “how does one get to be Reformed or how does one become a Calvinist?”  Alistair Begg responded, “well, you get you a Bible and you read and study it and you become Reformed.”  Everybody laughed.  I thought at first that it was too simplistic and a little bombastic but upon reflection, he is right.  Reformed Theology is right not because of Martin Luther or John Calvin or even Augustine.  It is right because of Paul and Jesus.  It is simply the theology that seeks to express with clarity what they were seeking to show us about the glory of God and the grace of God manifest in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I concluded that there are at least three motivations that drive us to this kind of work.  Beginning with the least positive and the most unconscious and moving toward the most positive and fully conscious I would offer these three.  First, I think that there is in most believers in America some level of guilt about our lavish lifestyles.  The most poor among us live far better than would be found among two-thirds of the world, and most of us who go on these trips would be considered enormously rich by world monetary standards.  So I think that we go in part out of guilt-appeasement.  My reason for thinking this way emerges simply out of what I hear from people about how much personal benefit is received from these trips and about how lifestyle changes are going to be made upon returning home.  The former is usually captured in pictures and kept in memory and the latter usually fades after a month and is gone altogether after two months.  But it is at least real for a time and makes us think about the way we live.

The second motivation is more positive.  We want to be used of God to make a difference in the lives of  other people.  We have been richly blessed and we want to be a blessing to others.  We go because we want to give.  This motivation is real and rich, and it is increasing in our churches.  In fact, one of the realities that is being increasingly recognized by the IMB of the SBC is that asking people to give and not go is no longer working among people who are under fifty.  It makes no sense to them.  They do not see missions as giving so that others can go.  They see missions as going and doing, sending and sharing.  And the third motivation that is the most positive and powerful of all is that we go as an act of obedience to God.  We go because God has called us to go.

I am so glad that He has called so many out of our church to go.  Is he calling you?

One  part  has  thirty-­‐nine  books  and  the  other  part  has  twenty-­‐seven.  The  first   part  is  known  as  the  Old  Testament  not  because  it  is  antiquated  and  out  of  date   but  because  it  unfolds  for  us  life  as  it  was  lived  out  under  the  old  covenant.  The   second  part  is  known  as  the  New  Testament  because  it  lays  out  for  us  what  life   looks  like  under  the  new  covenant.  Both  parts  are  necessary.  If  we  have  the  New   Testament  without  the  Old  Testament  we  will  inevitably  make  much  of  ourselves   and  little  of  God  and  reduce  the  cross  of  Jesus  to  a  doctrine  to  be  believed  rather   than  a  reality  that  revolutionizes  all  of  life  for  those  who  do  believe.  If  we  have   the  Old  Testament  apart  from  the  New  Testament  we  will  inevitably  reduce  life  to   a  set  of  rules  and  regulations  to  be  obeyed  rather  than  seeing  that  the  law  of  God   laid  out  in  the  Old  Testament  is  given  to  show  us  the  great  grandeur  of  God  and   the  dreadful  depravity  of  humans  so  as  to  point  us  to  the  only  one  who  can  bring   God  to  us  and  us  to  God  and  that  one  is  the  center  of  all  the  Bible  the  Lord  Jesus   Christ.  Who  He  is  and  what  He  does  is  not  only  proclaimed  in  the  New  Testament   but  also  prophesied  in  the  Old  Testament.  Jesus  said  that  Abraham  saw  His  day   and  was  glad.  Ezekiel  was  shown  what  that  day  would  be  and  was  dominated  by   delight.  Joel  saw  it  and  was  glad.  But  no  prophet  of  the  Old  Testament  saw  it  as   plainly  or  proclaimed  it  as  powerfully  as  Jeremiah. You  hold  in  your  hand  or  have  upon  your  laps  a  Bible  that  has  two  parts.

Learn more about this message by downloading the sermon notes here!

It is hard to leave here.  I mean that.  Getting on the plane in the morning will not take place with a lot of relief and great joy.  Sure I want to come home to a wife whom I love with every fiber of my being and a church that is the best, but this country has captured my heart. These people have become my people and this seminary has become for me a second home. I love being here.  I can’t explain all of that and have no idea what it means but it is as real to me as my fingers typing the keystrokes on this computer keypad.  I have already counted.  It will be a full eight months before I get to come back.  And then I will have the privilege of teaching a new course for the Church Planting Program.  I can hardly wait.

I do come home with the good news that we have been invited by Open Heart Church to do the ESL Camp again and during the exact same week.  So, start praying and planning.  And pray for me that I will have as the Lord wills safe flights and good connections and alertness as I drive from Atlanta to Waynesboro.  I will arrive in Atlanta Lord willing at 4:30 which will be 11:30 at night in the Ukraine.  So I will need a good dose of prayer and caffeine to stay awake on my drive home.  

I have enjoyed blogging each night to the two of you who read the blog.  Thanks for reading.  You have kept me encouraged along the way.  Good night.

For example, I was just reading some facebook stuff tonight and figured out that somewhere in the last day or two there must have been some big deal in Washington with Obama and that former President Jimmy Carter must figure into this mix.  When I first read it, I thought, “I wander what all that is about . . .” and then I thought about how wonderful it is to be away from all of that and not have to be involved.  Do you know that since leaving America last Monday morning I have not seen a television program, heard a radio broadcast or read an American Newspaper.  One week for some of us without The Truthful Citizen would cause apoplexy and a day with the old Augusta Chronicle would cause us to shake.  But it has been so nice. It has given me yet another thought about another thing I can let go of so as to have more time and energy for things worthy.  But I do not want to waver because I want to stay for a moment on the subject of context.  It makes all the difference.  I had no context for these facebook posts on Carter and Obama so they did not mean a lot to me.

Context is so important when interpreting Scripture.  Someone said some time ago and I cannot remember who it was that a text without a context is a pretext.  Yet, so many believers base what they believe on texts without contexts.  I just taught 1 Corinthians 11-14 [+/-]1 Corinthians 11-14 [11:1]Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. [2]Now I commend you because you remember me in everything and maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you. [3]But I want you to understand that the head of every man is Christ, the head of a wife is her husband, and the head of Christ is God. [4]Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, [5]but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head, since it is the same as if her head were shaven. [6]For if a wife will not cover her head, then she should cut her hair short. But since it is disgraceful for a wife to cut off her hair or shave her head, let her cover her head. [7]For a man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but woman is the glory of man. [8]For man was not made from woman, but woman from man. [9]Neither was man created for woman, but woman for man. [10]That is why a wife ought to have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. [11]Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man nor man of woman; [12]for as woman was made from man, so man is now born of woman. And all things are from God. [13]Judge for yourselves: is it proper for a wife to pray to God with her head uncovered? [14]Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him, [15]but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. [16]If anyone is inclined to be contentious, we have no such practice, nor do the churches of God. [17]But in the following instructions I do not commend you, because when you come together it is not for the better but for the worse. [18]For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, [19]for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. [20]When you come together, it is not the Lord's supper that you eat. [21]For in eating, each one goes ahead with his own meal. One goes hungry, another gets drunk. [22]What! Do you not have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I commend you in this? No, I will not. [23]For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, [24]and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." [25]In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." [26]For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. [27]Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. [28]Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. [29]For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. [30]That is why many of you are weak and ill, and some have died. [31]But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged. [32]But when we are judged by the Lord, we are disciplined so that we may not be condemned along with the world. [33]So then, my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another-- [34]if anyone is hungry, let him eat at home--so that when you come together it will not be for judgment. About the other things I will give directions when I come. [12:1]Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be uninformed. [2]You know that when you were pagans you were led astray to mute idols, however you were led. [3]Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking in the Spirit of God ever says "Jesus is accursed!" and no one can say "Jesus is Lord" except in the Holy Spirit. [4]Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; [5]and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; [6]and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. [7]To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. [8]For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, [9]to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, [10]to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. [11]All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills. [12]For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. [13]For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body--Jews or Greeks, slaves or free--and all were made to drink of one Spirit. [14]For the body does not consist of one member but of many. [15]If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [16]And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," that would not make it any less a part of the body. [17]If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? [18]But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. [19]If all were a single member, where would the body be? [20]As it is, there are many parts, yet one body. [21]The eye cannot say to the hand, "I have no need of you," nor again the head to the feet, "I have no need of you." [22]On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, [23]and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, [24]which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, [25]that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. [26]If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together. [27]Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. [28]And God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, helping, administrating, and various kinds of tongues. [29]Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? [30]Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? [31]But earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. [13:1]If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. [2]And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. [3]If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing. [4]Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant [5]or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; [6]it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. [7]Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. [8]Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. [9]For we know in part and we prophesy in part, [10]but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. [11]When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. [12]For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known. [13]So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love. [14:1]Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy. [2]For one who speaks in a tongue speaks not to men but to God; for no one understands him, but he utters mysteries in the Spirit. [3]On the other hand, the one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation. [4]The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church. [5]Now I want you all to speak in tongues, but even more to prophesy. The one who prophesies is greater than the one who speaks in tongues, unless someone interprets, so that the church may be built up. [6]Now, brothers, if I come to you speaking in tongues, how will I benefit you unless I bring you some revelation or knowledge or prophecy or teaching? [7]If even lifeless instruments, such as the flute or the harp, do not give distinct notes, how will anyone know what is played? [8]And if the bugle gives an indistinct sound, who will get ready for battle? [9]So with yourselves, if with your tongue you utter speech that is not intelligible, how will anyone know what is said? For you will be speaking into the air. [10]There are doubtless many different languages in the world, and none is without meaning, [11]but if I do not know the meaning of the language, I will be a foreigner to the speaker and the speaker a foreigner to me. [12]So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church. [13]Therefore, one who speaks in a tongue should pray for the power to interpret. [14]For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays but my mind is unfruitful. [15]What am I to do? I will pray with my spirit, but I will pray with my mind also; I will sing praise with my spirit, but I will sing with my mind also. [16]Otherwise, if you give thanks with your spirit, how can anyone in the position of an outsider say "Amen" to your thanksgiving when he does not know what you are saying? [17]For you may be giving thanks well enough, but the other person is not being built up. [18]I thank God that I speak in tongues more than all of you. [19]Nevertheless, in church I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue. [20]Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature. [21]In the Law it is written, "By people of strange tongues and by the lips of foreigners will I speak to this people, and even then they will not listen to me, says the Lord." [22]Thus tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers. [23]If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? [24]But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, [25]the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. [26]What then, brothers? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up. [27]If any speak in a tongue, let there be only two or at most three, and each in turn, and let someone interpret. [28]But if there is no one to interpret, let each of them keep silent in church and speak to himself and to God. [29]Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others weigh what is said. [30]If a revelation is made to another sitting there, let the first be silent. [31]For you can all prophesy one by one, so that all may learn and all be encouraged, [32]and the spirits of prophets are subject to prophets. [33]For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints, [34]the women should keep silent in the churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be in submission, as the Law also says. [35]If there is anything they desire to learn, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church. [36]Or was it from you that the word of God came? Or are you the only ones it has reached? [37]If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord. [38]If anyone does not recognize this, he is not recognized. [39]So, my brothers, earnestly desire to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. [40]But all things should be done decently and in order. (ESV)
today where Paul deals with the issue of the women keeping silent in the churches.  What he says in these passages makes perfect sense in context but none at all outside of it.  Paul is establishing biblical order for  the church.  He establishes that the men are to lead the church and they are the ones who are to be the elders and the pastors.  Women have wonderful roles to fill in the church but pastors and elders are not those roles.  Thus, they are not to hold the teaching office or the prophetic office for the church.  And they were apparently in Corinth so Paul has to speak to it not in order to stifle women but to silence them in those places where they are not permitted by the Word of God to serve.  

Context is important in ministry as well.  I am learning more every day that ministry in a Ukrainian context is far different than ministry in an American context.  So much of what is written in our country about what causes growth in a church should be rewritten so that it makes plain that the issues that cause growth in an American context are of no concern in other cultural contexts and then we could ask the real question,”why do American churches need all this physical space for preschoolers and children?  Why do we have to have bathrooms around every bend in the hallways?  Why do we have to have a certain kind of sound and lighting system?”  It may say more about us and our wants and desires than what it takes to grow a church.  Context is critical.

I pray often for Johnny Hunt and Ronnie Floyd and their leadership of the team that is looking at the restructuring of the SBC.  I pray that God would give them great wisdom to move us in the direction that is right no matter what it costs in the turbulence that we must endure over the next few years.  And for me, it means that we have to look at some issues very carefully and very closely. It means that we have to ask about the continued viability of the Baptist Associations and State Conventions. We need one or other or some combination of both that services the needs of the churches, but we do not need both.  One of these needs to go.  The culture out of which these entities came has been long gone, but these fossilized forms have hung on.  In some cases there are Associations that do a great job and justify their existence.  In other cases, they are useless and the support that comes from the churches to support them represents very poor stewardship of the resources that God has given to the church.  Southern Baptists must find a way to connect more closely with the churches so as to recapture the purpose of the convention which is found in the convention serving the church and not the other way around.  I pray for these men who are leading us. They have a tough assignment.  They have to see the storm that we are in and find a way to quell it while not rocking the boat.  Well. this storm will not be quelled that easily and a lot of boats will be rocked in the process. But if the outcome is  a more clear direction and a more efficient entity for getting there then facing the storms and rocking the boats will be worth getting bruised over.

I taught today for four hours again and today we addressed Paul’s theology of the church.  How did Paul see the church and what did he see as the role of the church?  Try squeezing all of that into four hours. I almost did it.  The students were tired at the end of the day and so was I.  Put in a simple sentence Paul’s perspective on the church is:  the church is the people of God bought with the blood of Jesus called out of the world to gather in worship and for growth in holiness and to scatter for witness to the Gospel and the work of God in the world. I spent four hours today unpacking biblically from Colossians, Ephesians, and Timothy what this text teaches.  Tomorrow we will examine leadership in the church and the role of women in the church. It should be a fun day.

The time is passing fast here.  I miss Anne and my church family but I must tell you that I love this place and her people.  I have never felt quite the way about a place and a people while I am here and even while I am away.  I love Kenya and Liberia; I loved the time that God gave me in Tunisia and the Republic of Georgia but none of them can come close to what I feel when I am here and when I am away.  It is almost like feeling at home when I am here and feeling like I am leaving home when I leave here.  Isn’t that odd?  I took a long walk on Saturday up and down the streets, visiting the markets, buying bananas and a fanta (oh my, the fanta drinks are so much richer here than in the states); and I felt so much at home during the entire walk.  Oh, usually at this point in a trip; I am counting the days until departure, beginning to pack a little luggage, and making sure my passport is in its proper place; but not here.  I can’t and I won’t until Thursday night and I have ti begin the process.  And to be brutally honest, I don’t know what I would do if I did not know sitting here even now that I will be back in May to teach and in the summer with a team and if by God’s grace I get to teach this course again, it meets next September during the same time frame.  

Well, that is all for tonight.  I am preaching in chapel tomorrow.  Time to pray and to study.

Open Hearts Church for those of you who were here this summer has moved locations again.  This is now the third time I have met with the church and each time in a different location.  All of our friends from the camp were present for the most part and it was so much fun for me because there were only three people in the whole congregation whom I did not know. I knew the congregation to which I was preaching:  Sveta, Olga, Alex, Dennis, Rostic, Tonya and Julias all however many there are and Neva and Dave and Toleg and well, you get the picture.  We had  a sweet fellowship after the service and then it was off to lunch to eat ribs (you heard me right) with Joel.  It was Mobley’s in Kiev.  Then we made our way to a nice little coffee shop to meet one of the newer missionaries with IMB and had a long, leisurely conversation about all things Ukrainian.  This all ended around late afternoon and then it was back to Joel and Mary Ellen’s for some more delicious food (I am stuffed as I type, in fact my fingers are so fate that I mighnt make some major miisteaks along the way, oh well), and back to the seminary for the evening.

Another delightful day in Kiev. For you are into all things mundane the weather here is turning Fallish with early darkness and cool mornings, nice; and the first thing I heard when I arrived at church this morning (no joke) was a guy talking about how Georgia beat South Carolina in football.  I was amused because some of you may know that God called me several years ago to a fast in the Fall from football.  I went an entire season without going to a game or turning on the television or radio.  It was more difficult than going without food.  Yet, God showed me an addiction that I had that robbed Him and Anne of precious time.  I am not sure that He is calling me to that this Fall but I have at least determined to stay away from the TV on Saturdays because I am not a guy who can watch a part of a game and leave it; I watch a couple and once and all during the day and evening.  Anyway, here I am in the Ukraine assured that this would not even be a subject of discussion and i