This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - God's Purpose of Grace

At this point, the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 has discussed God, man, salvation, & so much more.  Now we turn to God’s work in salvation & our security.  Many today continue to debate & despair over the question of assurance.  What assurance do we have that right now that we are still  reconciled with God, called into His kingdom, & adopted as His child?  Am I still saved?  Have I squandered my salvation?  What assurance do I have?

The despair over the uncertainty of one’s salvation can be devastating.  And it is at this point that one of the Baptist distinctives come to our aid: the perseverance of the saints.  The BF&M 2000 reads:

Election is the gracious purpose of God, according to which He regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners. It is consistent with the free agency of man, and comprehends all the means in connection with the end. It is the glorious display of God's sovereign goodness, and is infinitely wise, holy, and unchangeable. It excludes boasting and promotes humility.

All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end. Believers may fall into sin through neglect and temptation, whereby they grieve the Spirit, impair their graces and comforts, and bring reproach on the cause of Christ and temporal judgments on themselves; yet they shall be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation. [1]

So what assurance do true believers have that we are still in the loving arms of the Father?  One word: God.  That is the argument put forward above.  Salvation is not the work of man, but of God.  God is the One who put on flesh.  God, in the Person of the Son, bore our sins as our atoning substitute.  God satisfied His own wrath, redeemed a people, & saves souls for His own glory.  Man plays no role in any of it.  All our “righteousness” is like filthy rags.  Even the most noble of works is tainted with sin.

This means that our security is determined by God.  And being that God makes no mistakes (He is perfect & cannot lie), never changes (He is Immutable), & His wrath is fully & completely satisfied for the repentant due to the saving work of Christ on the cross, believers – true believers – cannot & will not lose their salvation.  This is the point in the first paragraph.  It is God – & God alone – who regenerates, justifies, sanctifies, and glorifies sinners.  Sinners cannot accomplish such glory.  Only God can.

However, this does not mean that salvation is a get-out-of-hell-free-card.  It is more than fire insurance.  It involves more than saying a prayer, walking an aisle, and getting baptized.  No.  Salvation is much bigger than that.

Salvation regenerates us changing us from the inside out.  Though none of us are what we ought to be yet, praise God, we are not what we once were.  The reason is because God is working in our lives.  That which God begins, God will accomplish.  Making us more like Him is one of God’s greatest works.

This is what is meant in the second paragraph:  All true believers endure to the end. Those whom God has accepted in Christ, and sanctified by His Spirit, will never fall away from the state of grace, but shall persevere to the end.  This is the wonderful doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints.”  Words like “eternal security” or “once saved always saved,” though true, are misleading.  It implies that persons can “accept Jesus” superficially and then live however they want to.  Perseverance of the Saints implies that true believers – saints – will live godly lives that reflects their Savior and will persevere to the end in obedience to their saving Father.  Everyday, for such believers, is another opportunity to be more like Christ.

Certainly Christians sin, but not with glee.  Our goal is to be more like Christ, not less like Him.  Believers will persevere to the end with this ultimate goal.  Though we have not attained such glorification yet, we look forward to the day that we do.

This all comes down to where we began.  Do we have assurance of our salvation?  Every religion in the world offers an emphatic no.  The reason is because they are built on what man does, instead of what God has done.  If God is the author and finisher of our faith, then rest knowing that you are safe in the arms of God trusting in the saving work of the cross.  But assurance works both ways.  Trust in yourself and your self-righteousness and I can assure you that you are lost and will remain so.  Salvation is of God, not of man and so long as you strive for grace you will never achieve it. Instead, come to the cross in full humility, and embrace the gospel.  Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!


[1]  See Gen 12:1-3; Ex 19:5-8; 1 Sam 8:4-7,19-22; Isa 5:1-7; Jer 31:31ff.; Matt 16:18-19; 21:28-45; 24:22,31; 25:34; Luke 1:68-79; 2:29-32; 19:41-44; 24:44-48; John 1:12-14; 3:16; 5:24; 6:44-45,65; 10:27-29; 15:16; 17:6,12,17-18; Acts 20:32; Rom 5:9-10; 8:28-39; 10:12-15; 11:5-7,26-36; 1 Cor 1:1-2; 15:24-28; Eph 1:4-23; 2:1-10; 3:1-11; Col 1:12-14; 2 Th 2:13-14; 2 Tim 1:12; 2:10,19; Heb 11:39–12:2; Jam 1:12; 1 Pet 1:2-5,13; 2:4-10; 1 John 1:7-9; 2:19; 3:2.


This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Introduction
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Scripture
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God
This is Who We Are  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Father
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Son
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Spirit
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Man  
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Salvation 

God: Proper Theology Proper Sermon Series

For the past few months, we have finished the year discussing the subject of God - better known as Theology Proper.  All theology is practical and what we believe about God shapes everything we are, believe, say, think, and do.  It has been a fascinating study and I have enjoyed it a lot and have been challenged by it.  Our God is simply too small.  If we want real hope, comfort, assurance, peace, joy, love, and contentment, then  we need to come meet the God of Scripture and the God of the gospel.

Below are all of the sermon links which include the notes and audio (when available).  In addition I have included every blog post, past sermons that relate the Theology Proper, articles, and book reviews that I have written.  I hope it all helps. 

SERMONS

September 12, 2010 - God is Creator 
September 19, 2010 - God is Provident 
October 10, 2010 - God is Sovereign  
October 24, 2010 - God is Immutable
October 31, 2010 - God is Holy 
November 7, 2010 - God is Jealous
November 13, 2010 -  God is Love
November 20, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Father
November 27, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Spirit
December 5, 2010 - Jesus is Lord
December 19, 2010 - Jesus is God

ARTICLES

Calvin on Providence  
Tozer on Immutability  
The Immutability of God Series  
Tozer on Holiness  
Third Day:  Our God is a "Consuming Fire"  
Repost - Is God Jealous?:  Oprah Weighs In  
MacDonald on the Love of God   
DeYoung on the Trinity  
MacArthur on the Comfort of the Spirit 
The Nicene Creed 
Stewart on the Lordship of Christ  
Grudem on the Deity of Christ 
The Gospel Coalition on the Deity of Christ  
Mahaney on the Person and Work of Christ:  Christ Our Mediator  
Stomach Virus' and the Humanity of Christ:  Moore on the Suffering and Sick Servant
Sayers on the Incarnation of Christ  
If Jesus Were Born in Our Digital Age

OTHER

August 1, 2010 - Matthew 6:25-34 - Worry and the Providence of God:  What Our Anxiety Says About What We Believe About God
April 18, 2010 - Haggai 2:1-9 - And the Lord Said, "Get-r-Done"
August 30, 2009 - Psalm 23:6 - The Peace of the Shepherd's Providence 
Esther 4 - God's Providence 
Providence and Prayer:  Carson Responds
This is Who WE Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God   
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Father
Theology - The Immutability of God:  Its Truth and Relevancy - Introduction (Part 1)
Theology - The Immutability of God:  Its Truth and Relevancy - Scriptural Foundation (Part 2)
Theology - The Immutability of God:  Its Truth and Relevancy - Scriptural Challenges (Part 3)
Theology - The Immutability of God:  Its Truth and Relevancy - Theological Challenges (Part 4)
Theology - The Immutability of God:  Its Truth and Relevancy - Practical Implications (Part 5) 
Theology - The Immutability of God:  Its Truth and Relevancy - Theological Implications (Part 6)
Sermon Podcast - April 26, 2010 - The Immutability of God 
Sermon Podcast - November 29, 2009 - The Transcendence of the Gospel
Theology - The Stipulation that Paralyzes:  Tony Jones and the Limits of the Emergent Worldview
Theology - Orthopraxy is Rooted in Orthodoxy - The Postmodern Return to Rome
Commentary - Accomodationism Breed Irrelevancy:  Why Liberalism Fails and the Transcendent Gospel Triumphs 

BOOKS

Reviews - "The Gospel According to Jesus" by John MacArthur 
Reviews -  Reviews in Brief - The Doctrine of Divine Creation  
Reviews - "The Benefits of Providence"  
Reviews -Reviews in Brief - The Doctrine of Divine Providence  
Reviews - "The Sovereignty of God"  
Reviews - "The God Who Loves"
Reviews - "Be Happy You Are Loved" 
Reviews - "Godly Jealousy"
Reviews - Reviews in Brief - Trinity 
Reviews - "Their God is Too Small" 
Reviews - "Knowing God"
Reviews - "Gripped By the Greatness of God" 
Reviews - "The Reason for God" 

PREVIOUS SERIES:
The Sermon on the Mount Series
Matthew Thus Far:  Matthew 1-5
The Last Week of Jesus: From Triumphal Entry to Triumphal Grave Series
Fruitie-Tales: Living By the Fruit of the Spirit
Basic Christianity Series
Revelation Study

December 26, 2010 - Jesus is Human

Here is the last sermon in our series on the Doctrine of God (known as Theology Proper) and the Person and Nature of Jesus Christ - the Second Person of the Trinity - known as Christology.  Due to the weather and other events, I did not record the message but have posted the notes.


Notes


For more:
Mahaney on the Person and Work of Christ:  Christ Our Mediator  
Stomach Virus' and the Humanity of Christ:  Moore on the Suffering and Sick Servant 
Sayers on the Incarnation of Christ  
If Jesus Were Born in Our Digital Age
September 12, 2010 - God is Creator 
September 19, 2010 - God is Provident 
October 10, 2010 - God is Sovereign  
October 24, 2010 - God is Immutable
October 31, 2010 - God is Holy 
November 7, 2010 - God is Jealous
November 13, 2010 -  God is Love
November 20, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Father
November 27, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Spirit
December 5, 2010 - Jesus is Lord
December 19, 2010 - Jesus is God

December 19, 2010 - Jesus is God

I know I'm 10 days late, but here is the audio and notes from the sermon on the Deity of Jesus Christ.

Audio
Notes





For more:
Grudem on the Deity of Christ 
The Gospel Coalition on the Deity of Christ 
September 12, 2010 - God is Creator 
September 19, 2010 - God is Provident 
October 10, 2010 - God is Sovereign  
October 24, 2010 - God is Immutable
October 31, 2010 - God is Holy 
November 7, 2010 - God is Jealous
November 13, 2010 -  God is Love
November 20, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Father
November 27, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Spirit  
December 5, 2010 - Jesus is Lord 

Bibledex on Amos

Its been a while since we've been able to meet on Wednesday night for Bible study and prayer.  Tonight we continue our series of the Bible book by book backwards.  We find ourselves in the Minor Prophets still and tonight we will discuss the wonderful book of the Prophet Amos.  In preparation of that, here is the video produced by the folks at Bibledex on the book of Amos.  As always, I don't agree with everything that is said and the conclusions that are promoted, but I do find them to be helpful videos and this one is no different.





For more:
Bibledex on Jonah  
Bibledex on Malachi 
Bibledex on Nahum  
Bibledex on Habbakuk 
Bibledex on Zephaniah
Bibledex on Zechariah
Bibledex on Malachi  
Bibledex on Matthew 
Bibledex on Mark  
Bibledex on Luke 
Bibledex on John 
Bibledex on Romans
Bibledex on 2 Corinthians
Bibledex on Ephesians 
Bibledex on Philippians
Bibledex on Colossians 
Bibledex on 2 Thessalonians   

This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - Salvation

What is the gospel? That is one of the most important questions we can ever ask.  Unless we answer this question, nothing else we think about, ask about, focus on, believe in, or do will matter.  The gospel identifies the Church, redeems the Church, and is the rock by which the Church is built on.  What is the gospel?

That’s essentially what the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 discusses next.  How is a person “saved?”  How does one get right with God?  What is the gospel?  The BF&M 2000 offer a rather theologically robust and technical answer to that question that at first glance appears rather difficult to understand.  Words like regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification aren’t exactly words we use in everyday conversation, but they are important nonetheless.  The BF&M 2000 says:
               
Salvation involves the redemption of the whole man, and is offered freely to all who accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Saviour, who by His own blood obtained eternal redemption for the believer. In its broadest sense salvation includes regeneration, justification, sanctification, and glorification. There is no salvation apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ as Lord.

A. Regeneration, or the new birth, is a work of God’s grace whereby believers become new creatures in Christ Jesus. It is a change of heart wrought by the Holy Spirit through conviction of sin, to which the sinner responds in repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Repentance and faith are inseparable experiences of grace.

Repentance is a genuine turning from sin toward God. Faith is the acceptance of Jesus Christ and commitment of the entire personality to Him as Lord and Saviour.

B. Justification is God’s gracious and full acquittal upon principles of His righteousness of all sinners who repent and believe in Christ. Justification brings the believer unto a relationship of peace and favor with God.

C. Sanctification is the experience, beginning in regeneration, by which the believer is set apart to God's purposes, and is enabled to progress toward moral and spiritual maturity through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit dwelling in him. Growth in grace should continue throughout the regenerate person's life.

D. Glorification is the culmination of salvation and is the final blessed and abiding state of the redeemed. [1]

This confession of faith is well written and defines the issue pretty well, the problem is that to the average Christian, much of what is laid out here is difficult to understand even though each issue raised here is imperative and very much part of the gospel.  So what is the gospel? It begins with God’s holiness and our depravity.  We cannot save ourselves because our God is infinitely holy and we finite beings are depraved to our core.  Even the “good” things we do are tainted with sin, thus if we were to rely on our works alone, we would present God a filthy rag of righteousness (Isaiah 64:6).  God is so holy that He cannot ignore our rebellion.  What we need, then, is a substitute.  What we need is grace.

The gospel offers such grace through the substituting work of Christ on the cross by which our sins are imputed (there’s a big word) onto Him and at the resurrection of Christ His righteousness is imputed (there it is again) onto us.  In other words, “[God] made [Christ] who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Christ took upon Himself our sin so that when God sees us, He sees the righteousness of Christ.

The cross and resurrection does not just give us a clean slate for us to dirty up again, but a new self, a new life.  This is what we mean by regeneration.  God, through Christ, makes us “new creatures” (vs. 17) whereby we become more like Christ.  Therefore, the gospel says that we are both “saved” now (justification) and are in the process of being “saved” (sanctification) meaning that we are growing in Christ becoming more like our Savior.  Unfortunately man approach the gospel as fire insurance whereby after saying a prayer or getting baptized we’re promised heaven after we die.  That is only part of it.  The gospel is a reformation of who we are at our core.  We are no longer the old man, but a new man that seeks to be more like our Savior.  This means that to be a Christian we both are redeemed at the cross and live by the cross.  Look to the cross and resurrection in everyday life trusting that God will use us for His glory.  We need to seek to reflect Him who bought us at the cross making us children of God, siblings of Christ.  Look to the cross.  Repent.  Believe.  And you will be saved. 

That is the gospel.  Do you believe in this gospel?


[1]  See the following references:  Gen 3:15; Ex 3:14-17; 6:2-8; Matt 1:21; 4:17; 16:21-26; 27:22-28:6; Luke 1:68-69; 2:28-32; John 1:11-14,29; 3:3-21,36; 5:24; 10:9,28-29; 15:1-16; 17:17; Acts 2:21; 4:12; 15:11; 16:30-31; 17:30-31; 20:32; Rom 1:16-18; 2:4; 3:23-25; 4:3ff.; 5:8-10; 6:1-23; 8:1-18,29-39; 10:9-10,13; 13:11-14; 1 Cor 1:18,30; 6:19-20; 15:10; 2 Cor 5:17-20; Gal 2:20; 3:13; 5:22-25; 6:15; Eph 1:7; 2:8-22; 4:11-16; Phil 2:12-13; Col 1:9-22; 3:1ff.; 1 Thess 5:23-24; 2 Tim 1:12; Titus 2:11-14; Heb 2:1-3; 5:8-9; 9:24-28; 11:1-12:8,14; James 2:14-26; 1 Pet 1:2-23; 1 John 1:6-2:11; Rev 3:20; 21:1-22:5.


For more:
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Introduction
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Scripture
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God
This is Who We Are  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Father
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Son
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Spirit  
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Man  

Mahaney on the Person and Work of Christ: Christ Our Mediator

I love the following passage taken from CJ Mahaney's book Christ Our Mediator: Finding Passion at the Cross (LifeChange Books).  Its a short book that can be read quickly, but its content is fantastic.  Let us always be reflecting on the cross!  Tomorrow we will be discusing the humanity of Christ and in the following quote, Mahaney shows how Christ's humanity and deity are necessary in order for the gospel to be real.  If Chrit is one and not the other then we remain in our sins.

Since sin has been committed by man, therefore sin must be atoned for by a man.  Only a human being can be the perfect substitute for other human beings.  The deb and obligation and responsibility is mankind’s alone.  Neither you nor I, however, can atone for our sin to satisfy God’s righteous requirements; our own disobedience already condemns us before a righteous God.  Furthermore, we’re captive to sin; it’s humanly impossible for us to release ourselves from its rip.  Even if somehow, from this moment forward, we steeled ourselves to stop winning (which is impossible), our record is still stain by the sins of our past.


That’s our condition – having no possible way to atone for our sin, nor any possible way to free ourselves from enslavement to it.
 
A divine rescue is necessary.  We need a savior.  And in order to be our savior, in order to pay our debt, this individual must be like us – not just God in a form that merely appears to be human, but someone fully and truly human.  Yet he must be unlike us as well, because he must be sinless, since only a perfect sacrifice is acceptable.  He must be fully God, and not simply a man with a limited set of divine powers an abilities.  -44-45

Stomach Virus' and the Humanity of Christ: Moore on the Suffering and Sick Servant

If everything had worked according to plan, we would be discussing the humanity of Jesus this upcoming Sunday, but do to the snow last Sunday, we will discuss that a week later.  Recently I came across an article by Southern Baptist Theological Seminary professor Dr. Russell Moore regarding the humanity of Jesus.  Moore raises the question:  did Jesus ever have a stomach virus?  This is an interesting question and it has been asked in many different ways.  The question is basically about how human Jesus was.

It is important to remember that Jesus wasn't a sort superman:  all God and not human at all.  Instead, Jesus was both fully human and fully God.  It is dangerous to overemphasize one and ignore the other.  Moore writes:


Last week a friend called my office to leave a question she wanted some help thinking through. Could Jesus have gotten a stomach virus? Or the flu? Or a head cold? This question was rooted in something a little deeper. Since sickness is part of the curse of the Fall, would Jesus’ sinless nature have exempted him from viruses and bugs and fevers?

That night one of my sons woke us, crying as the stomach virus hit with all the unpleasantness that brings. As I watched his little frame tremble as he vomited, I thought about this woman’s question. Would Mary have ever watched her little firstborn in the throes of such sickness? . . .

The Scripture repeatedly makes a point of telling us about Jesus’ exhaustion, about his digestion of food, in order to make the point that our Christ really identified with us in every aspect of our common humanity, except for our sin (Heb. 4:15).

The very beginning of the Christ story itself tells us that part of the sign of the Messiah is that he is wrapped in cloths (Lk. 2:12). Why do you wrap cloths around a baby? For the same reason you might diaper your baby, or wrap her up in a blanket. The point is to keep the baby warm, and to keep him dry from waste. This signifies from the very beginning just how much Jesus is our brother, sharing with us a human nervous system and a human digestive system.

It’s also hard for us to imagine the radical nature of substitution. Of course, we understand Jesus’ suffering for us on the Cross. But the Cross was culmination, not the beginning of Jesus’ identification with us. Jesus walked into a world fallen with sin, a world cursed by thorns, death, and, yes, sickness. Though Jesus clearly had power of sickness in his healing ministry, and over death itself, he voluntarily joined us in a world of suffering and pain, for the purpose of offering up a sacrifice and restoring human peace with God and nature . . .

It just doesn’t seem right to us to imagine Jesus feverish or vomiting. But that’s precisely the scandal. It didn’t seem right to many to imagine Jesus as really flesh and bone, filled with blood and intestines and urine. 

Somehow that seemed to detract from his deity. It surely didn’t seem right to many to imagine the only begotten of the Father twisting in pain on a crucifixion stake, screaming as he drowned in his own blood. This was humiliating, undignified. That’s just the point. Jesus joined us in our humiliation, in our indignity.

I hope you don’t get a stomach virus this year, or the flu or the fever or a cold. But, if you do, I hope you remember, just for a minute, in your discomfort that Jesus has passed through everything you’ll ever face. He might have been racked with nausea or chills or aches, just as you are. And then he faced far, far worse.

But, as you lie there, remember the gospel of incarnation and substitution, a gospel that comes, as the old song says, to make his blessings known “far as the curse is found.”

There is some great insight here.  I love the emphasis on the cross.  The suffering of Jesus makes no sense unless Jesus is human.  If Jesus is not human then the cross loses its power.  This is hugely practical as we'll discuss next week.  I encourage you to read the entire article.


Russell Moore - Did Jesus Ever Get a Stomach Virus? 

If Jesus Were Born in Our Digital World

This is one of the best videos I have seen in some time.  I hope you enjoy it.  What would happen if Mary were pregnant today?

The 12 Doctrines of Christmas: A Funny Video

I thought this was important.  I realize that many won't know what they're saying (words like Hypostatic Union and perspicuity aren't exactly words the average Christian uses everyday), one can still appreciate it.  I like the argument over the 5 points of Calvinism at the beginning.  Funny stuff.





HT:  Reformation Theology

Sayers on the Incarnation of Christ

I came across the following quote attributed to Dorothy Sayers regarding the Incarnation of Christ that I thought was very insightful.

If Christ was only man, then He is entirely irrelevant to any thought about God; if He is only God, then He is entirely irrelevant to any experience of human life. It is, in the strictest sense, necessary to the salvation of relevance that a man should believe rightly the Incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Unless he believes rightly, there is not the faintest reason why he should believe at all.

Sayers is right.  The gospel is an impossible promise if Jesus is simply an enlightened man.  At the same time, we must balance the deity of Christ along with the humanity of Christ.  It should be a fascinating conversation Sunday morning.


World Magazine Blog - The Incarnate God 

Grudem on the Deity of Christ

Wayne Grudem's theology book Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine is one of the best-selling and most widely read theology books today and for good reason.  I have used this book throughout our study of Theology Proper and Christology and this week is no different.  In his chapter on the Person of Christ (which we are exploring this month), Grudem offers three reasons why the Doctrine of the Deity of Christ and rightly understanding it is necessary:

1.    Only someone who is infinite God could bear the full penalty for all the sins of all those who would believe in him – any finite creature would have been incapable of bearing that penalty.  -553

2.    Salvation is from the Lord (Jonah 2:9 NASB), and the whole message of Scripture is designed to show that no human being, no creature, could ever save man 00 only God himself could.  -553

3.    Only someone who was truly and fully God could be the one mediator between God and man (1 Tim. 2:5), both to bring us back to God and also to reveal God most fully to us (John 14:9).  -553

Grudem then concludes:

Thus, if Jesus is not fully God, we have no salvation and ultimately no Christianity.  It is no accident that throughout history those groups that have given up belief in the full deity of Christ have not remained long within the Christian faith but have soon drifted toward the kind of religion represented by Unitarianism in the United States and elsewhere.  ‘No one who denies the Son has the Father’ (1 John 2:23).  ‘Any one who goes ahead and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have; he who abides in the doctrine has both the Father and the Son’ (2 John 9).  -554

Grudem is right.  The full deity of Christ is imperative and to reject it is to reject Chrsitianity.

The Gospel Coalition on the Deity of Christ

Many reject the fully deity of Jesus Christ.  Though to many of us that is rather shocking, we shouldn't be surprised.  After all, if Jesus is God then what He said, did, and commands is more than another man's opinion but divine revelation from the Divine Himself.  Many reject the deity of Christ in an attempt to undermine His message and particularly the meaning of the cross and resurrection.

The Gospel Coalition website (a great site!) has published a few clips taken from some interviews on the issue of the Deity of Christ that I thought was helpful and worth posting here.  Each video is brief:

December 5, 2010 - Jesus is Lord

Here is the audio and notes from this past Sunday's message on the Lordship of Jesus.  For the month of December, we will be exploring the Doctrine of Christ commonly referred to by theologians as Christology.  We'll discuss particularly His Person/Nature and Work and it should be a great discussion.





Audio 
Notes 


For more:
Reviews - "The Gospel According to Jesus" by John MacArthur 
Stewart on the Lordship of Christ 
September 12, 2010 - God is Creator 
September 19, 2010 - God is Provident 
October 10, 2010 - God is Sovereign  
October 24, 2010 - God is Immutable
October 31, 2010 - God is Holy 
November 7, 2010 - God is Jealous
November 13, 2010 -  God is Love
November 20, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Father
November 27, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Spirit  

Stewart on the Lordship of Christ

James A. Stewart has written one of the best summaries on the issue of submitting to the Lordship of Christ.  Though the "Lordship Controversy" appears to be a thing of the past, it remains a fresh conversation for us to have.  Here's the debate:  must a believer accept Jesus as both their Savior and their Lord in order to be saved?  In other words, must a person not only trust that Jesus can save them if they believe, but also repent and bear the fruits of their repentance?

I believe that those in whom God justifies on account of the substitutionary death of Christ He also sanctifies in the Spirit.  This means that salvation is more than a get-out-of-hell-free-card, but a call to repentance whereby we submit to our Lord, pick up our cross, and follow Him.  We surrender all.  Submit all.  And sacrifice all just as our Lord did for us.

Here is what Stewart had to say on the subject:

There are many who want to be saved from the consequences of their sin, who do not want to be saved from the love of it. Many want to be delivered from sin's curse and sin's wages, who do not want to bow their neck to the yoke of Christ. There are many who are attracted by the Gospel message and see the way of salvation, who are still possessing a craving for this present evil age. How great the need for care, lest by an inadequate presentation of the truth of the Gospel we deceive these souls into a false profession. There is a grave danger that many people will make a mistake of substituting an emotional religious crisis for a born-again experience. To preach Christ as Saviour without preaching Christ as Lord, makes a mockery of the Gospel and the entire Christian life. There must be true repentance. 'If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him' (I John 2 : 15).

To those who want to receive Christ as Saviour in order to have a passport to Heaven, but desire to remain in their sins and in the world, we must be faithful and declare like Peter, 'Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee. For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity' (Acts 8:21-23).

Mr. Spurgeon warns his students: 'If the professed convert distinctly and deliberately declares that he knows the Lord's will but does not mean to attend to it, you are not to pamper his presumption, but it is your duty to assure him that he is not saved. Do you imagine that the Gospel is magnified or God glorified by going to the worldlings and telling them that they may be saved at this moment by simply accepting Christ as their Saviour, while they are wedded to their idols and their hearts are still in love with sin? If I do so, I tell them a lie, pervert the Gospel, insult Christ, and turn the grace of God into lasciviousness.'

To read the rest, click here.


James A. Stewart - The Lordship of Christ - True Repentance  

Chuck Lawless on the Why of Lottie Moon

This week is the week of emphasis and prayer and fasting for foreign missions and Lottie Moon.  The Lottie Moon Christmas offering will be taken up Sunday and many are unaware to who Moon was or why we take this offering up.  In brief, this is an offering that goes to support foreign missions.  As one who has been overseas a couple of times doing mission work, I have seen how these funds promote the spread of the gospel overseas.  If we truly believe in the gospel, then we ought to take this offering more seriously than we do.  If we really love the unredeemed, then we will give.

Recently, Southern Seminary professor Chuck Lawless wrote an article in the Baptist Press on the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering and why it is so important.  After sharing with the reader a number of stories and testimonies of lives changed by the gospel, Dr. Lawless writes:

We have seen firsthand the changing power of the Gospel around the world, and those experiences remind us that Lottie Moon dollars are still making an eternal difference.

What keeps me awake at night, though, are those who have never heard or who do not yet believe. More than 6,000 people groups around the world have no Gospel witness. By some estimates, as many 3.5 billion people have never heard the Gospel. Some 6 billion people are lost without Christ.

Six billion lives at stake, and the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering provides almost 55 percent of the IMB's annual budget to engage this lostness. Clearly, Lottie Moon still matters.

Six billion people right now are lost and going to hell.  How can we sleep at night knowing that we have done nothing about that?  We are ambassadors of Christ.  We therefore have a message to declare and we ought to take that message, and the Lord of that message, more seriously.


Baptist Press (Chuck Lawless) - FIRST-PERSON: Why Lottie Moon Matters

November 28, 2010 - God is Triune: God the Holy Spirit

Here is the audio and notes from yesterday's message.  I have been really blessed in my own personal study on the doctrine of the Trinity and hope to be able to post more on the subject.  This technically ends our series on the doctrine of God (Theology Proper) as we now turn to discuss the Doctrine of Christ (Christology).  Next Sunday we will be discussing the Doctrine of the Lordship of Christ.

Audio 
Notes






For more:
DeYoung on the Trinity  
MacArthur on the Comfort of the Spirit 
The Nicene Creed 
September 12, 2010 - God is Creator 
September 19, 2010 - God is Provident 
October 10, 2010 - God is Sovereign  
October 24, 2010 - God is Immutable
October 31, 2010 - God is Holy 
November 7, 2010 - God is Jealous
November 13, 2010 -  God is Love 
November 20, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Father

DeYoung on the Trinity

We have been studying the Doctrine of the Divine Trinity and I have been greatly blessed in all of my ongoing studies of this wonderful doctrine.  The problem for many of us when digger deeper into Scripture and theology is the question of why such an effort is important?  Honestly, what good is studying the Trinity if it isn't practical?  As the old saying goes, what does that have to do with the price of bread in China - or something like that.  Is the doctrine of the Trinity practical?  I believe it is.  In fact, I believe that all doctrine is practice and if we really want to see a change in our hearts and be molded more like God, then the study of theology is paramount of things to do and consider.  All of theology - all doctrine is practical and the Trinity is no different.  In his book The Good News We Almost Forgot: Rediscovering the Gospel in a 16th Century Catechism author and pastor Kevin DeYoung offers three practical reasons why the Trinity matters:

1.   The Trinity mattes for creation.  God, unlike the gods in other ancient creation stories, did not need to go outside Himself to create the universe.  Instead, the Word and the Spirt were like His own two hands (to use Irenaeus’s famous phrase) in fashioning the cosmos.  God created by speaking (the Word) as the Spirit hovered over the chaos.  Creation, like regeneration, is a Trinitarian act, with God working by the agency o the Word spoken and the mysterious movement of the Holy Spirit.  -52


2.    The Trinity matters for evangelism and cultural engagement.  I’ve heard it sad that the 2 main rivals to a Christian worldview at present are Islam and postmodernism. Islam emphasizes unity . . . without allowing much variance for diversity.  Postmodernism, on the other hand, emphasizes diversity – diversity of opinion, beliefs, and background – without attempting to see things in any kind of meta-unity.  Christianity, with its understanding of God as three in one, allows for diversity and unity.  If God exists in 3 distinct persons who all share the same essence, then it is possible to hope that God’s creation may exhibit stunning variety and individuality while still holding together in a genuine oneness.  -52

3.    The Trinity mattes for relationships.  We worship a God who is in constant and eternal relationship with Himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Community is a buzz word in American culture, but it is only in a Christian framework that communion and interpersonal community are seen as expressions of the eternal nature of God.  Likewise, it is only with a Trinitarian God that love can be an eternal attribute of God.  Without a plurality of persons in the Godhead, we would be forced to think that God created humans so that He might show love and know love, thereby making love a created thing (and God a needy deity).  But with a biblical understanding of the Trinity, we can say that God did not create in order to be loved, but rather, created out of the overflow of the perfect love that had always existed among Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who ever live in perfect and mutual relationship and delight.  -52

I particularly like the second point raised by DeYoung and that is the issue of unity and community.  Let us not forget that unless the Trinity be true, then eternal realities like love, peace, and community have no real meaning.  We cannot say that God is eternally love unless He be eternally Triune.  This is what the Bible and the gospel means when it says, be holy like God.  God has always been holy and we ought to reflect that holiness.  Part of that holiness includes a love that is defined and exercised by God and He has done so for all of eternity.  When we want peace, we want the peace experienced by the Trinity, not a temporal empty peace we often look for.

This concept of community is hugely practical for us.  Think about it.  If we reflected the Trinity in our own church we would explode without ever fearing of personal prides and agendas getting in the way.  Most church's are at each other's throats because they refuse to participate in the community of the local church reflecting the community shared within the Trinity.  This means that how we act as a body of believers says much about what we believe about our God.  God is both one and yet a community of three Persons.  We ought to reflect this same dictotomy.  We are called to be one as He is One within a local community called the Church.

All doctrine, as I like to remind us all, is practical.


For more:
GBC - November 20, 2010 - God is Trinue:  God the Father  
GBC - MacArthur on the Comfort of the Spirit 
GBC - The Nicene Creed 
GBC - This is Who We Are  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Father
GBC - This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Son 
GBC - This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Spirit  
GBC - Shai Linne:  Triunne Praise 

MacArthur on the Comfort of the Spirit

This Sunday we will be talking about the Third Person of the Trinity -- the Holly Spirit. As of right now, we will be studying John 14 and even chapters 15-16 of John's Gospel. The best and brief explanation of the wonderful promises of the Spirit come from John MacArthur's comments on the John 14 passage at his website. Here is some of what he has written:

The promise of the Holy Spirit is the culmination of all that Jesus said to comfort those eleven troubled men. In that hour of turmoil, they feared being left alone. However Jesus assured them that they would not be left to fend for themselves; they would have a supernatural Helper. The Greek word translated ‘Helper’ (parakletos) literally means ‘one who is called alongside.’ The King James Version translates it ‘Comforter,’ which is one of its meanings.

The Greek word translated "another" may provide a helpful clue in understanding Jesus' meaning in John 14. There are two Greek words frequently translated ‘another’: heteros and allos. Sometimes the biblical authors used those words interchangeably, but sometimes they used heteros to speak of another of a different kind and allos to speak of another of the same kind (e.g. the ‘different’ [heteros] gospel vs. ‘another’ [allos] gospel in Galatians 1:6-7).

Allos is the word Jesus used to describe the Holy Spirit: ‘another [allos] Helper.’ That could be His way of saying, ‘I am sending you One of exactly the same essence as Me.’ He wasn't sending just any helper, but One exactly like Himself with the same compassion, the same attributes of deity, and the same love for them.

Jesus had been the disciples' helper for three years. He had helped them, comforted them, and walked alongside them. Now they would have another Helper – One exactly like Jesus – to minister to them as He had.

This is simply fascinating. When the disciples need comfort most, what Jesus offers is the Spirit of Comfort. What is most interesting is the language Jesus uses. What they really want is for Jesus to stay, and so what promises the disciples is that He isn't going anywhere. Sure He is about to die only to raised from the dead and would eventually ascend, but as chapters 15 and 16 tell us, unless Jesus ascend into heaven, the Spirit would not come down who is of the same essence of Jesus. Jesus offers the comfort of Himself as seen in the presence of the Spirit. And we have this Spirit in all of us who have trusted in Jesus Christ, repented of our sin, believing that He alone can save us. We have this Paracleet, this great Comforter. What a wonderful promise!!


Grace to You (John MacArthur) - The Ministry of the Holy Spirit

A Word From the Pastor - December 2010

Have your Christmas listed written yet?  You’ve got less than a month to buy all of the gifts, go to the parties, and “enjoy” this Christmas season.  All of us will be exhausted, more busy than usual, and probably a little in debt.  It is so easy to get distracted by the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season that we forget why we as Christians celebrate it in the first place.  Unless we are focused on the gospel all of our celebrating, planning, and giving are in vain.  Christmas is about the Incarnation, the moment when the eternal Son put on human flesh in order to become a substituting, atoning sacrifice for us not because we deserved it but because He is a Jealous God who loves us with an unconditional love.  Christmas is about Christ and that means more than a bumper sticker can deliver.  Let every holiday, song, present, and moment of celebration throughout the year be about the gospel.  Let us be motivated and driven by a love for the God of the gospel who became one of us so that we might be called children of God.

The Nicene Creed

Sunday night we discussed the Nicene Creed and what role it played in our understanding of the Trinity and the doctrine of Christ (called Christology).  The Nicene Creed was primarily a response to the challenge of Arianism which rejected the deity of Christ.  The Arian heresy is now found in the Jehovah's Witness movement.  They too reject the deity of Christ and instead believe that Jesus was the first created being of God (Jehovah) and the Spirit was created by Jesus. 

Here is the traditional version of the Nicene Creed:

We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father. Through him all things were made. For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven: by the power of the Holy Spirit he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary, and was made man.  For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.  On the third day he rose again in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the Father.
He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead, and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father [and the Son]. With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified. He has spoken through the Prophets. 

We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.  We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. AMEN.

 

This is a good creed that virtually every true Christian affirms including Catholics, Protestants, and Eastern Orthodox.  Even the Emerging Church claims to affirm it (but I think that is a farce).  We'll have more to say about this creed next month when we discuss the doctrine of Christ.

November 20, 2010 - God is Triune: God the Father

I failed to record yesterday's sermon and so only the notes are available.  This week we looked at the Doctrine of the Divine Trinity and focused on God the Father - the first member of the Trinity

Notes


For more:
September 12, 2010 - God is Creator 
September 19, 2010 - God is Provident 
October 10, 2010 - God is Sovereign  
October 24, 2010 - God is Immutable
October 31, 2010 - God is Holy 
November 7, 2010 - God is Jealous  
November 13, 2010 -  God is Love 

November 14, 2010 - God is Love

I know I'm over a week late, but here is the audio and notes from the sermon from two weeks ago on the Doctrine of Divine Love.

Audio
Notes





For more:
MacDonald on the Love of God  
September 12, 2010 - God is Creator 
September 19, 2010 - God is Provident 
October 10, 2010 - God is Sovereign  
October 24, 2010 - God is Immutable
October 31, 2010 - God is Holy 
November 7, 2010 - God is Jealous  

A Word From the Pastor - November 2010

I know I'm a little late. 

November means one thing: another excuse to overeat and watch football!  Thanksgiving is a great holiday full of history and meaning.  As Christians, especially, we have much to be thankful for beyond the birth and history of our nation, friendship, peace, and family.  As Christians, we must always be thankful for the fact that the holy God we have been exploring stooped down from Heaven, in the person of the Son, became one of us and died in our place.  Thankfulness ought to be naturally a characteristic of the Christian that must go beyond turkey and sports once a year.  Thanksgiving itself opens the door to other spiritual truths like humility, joy, contentment, peace, love, goodness, and prayer.  How can we who deserve nothing and yet have been righteousness and have been adopted by our Heavenly Father not be grateful?  Only when we have a right view of ourselves – filthy, sinful, in constant rebellion who seek to oust our Creator – and a right view of God – righteous, holy, sovereign, and just – can we truly be thankful.  John Newton, the author of the hymn Amazing Grace and a former slave trader prior to his conversion, summed it up perhaps the best:  “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things, that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”  Amazing Grace that saved a wretch like me . . . and for that we ought to be more than grateful; we ought to be in constant worship.

This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - Man

For the past several months, the Baptist Faith & Message 2000 has led us to think deeply about the doctrine of God and especially the Divine Trinity – 1 God in 3 Persons unified yet at the same time separate.  Now the BF&M 2000 forces us to now consider the Doctrine of Man known as Anthropology.  The BF&M 2000 states:

Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.

The confession of faith essentially says two things – one theologically the other culturally and morally – that force us to address them theologically and biblically.  First is the creation of man itself.

The first sentence sums up the basic Christian understanding of anthropology: Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image.  Understand the depth of that statement and everything else will make sense.  Man stands as the climax of creation and most closely resembles God (though clearly not God is many and most respects).  Whatever made in the His own image may mean (and theologians disagree), we can at least admit that human life is special, unique, and on a level unmatched by any other creature.

At the same time, and as the BF&M 2000 makes clear, though Man was created in the image of God, that special creation was divided into two genders: male and female.  Both are made in God’s image.  Both are equal and both are the crowning jewels of God’s creation.  However, they are both different in many ways.  It is tempting at this point to erase that last sentence.  In a culture like ours, it is simply unpopular and even offensive to state that men and women are different.  Anyone married for 15 minutes, however, can tell you what we all naturally know: men and women are different.  But, just as both genders are equal in status and both are unique creations of God made in His image, God is most glorified whenever we maximize how He has created us.  Only the Christian faith makes sense of this.  In other words, God is glorified in both masculinity and femininity.  God rejoices at the differences in the two equal genders for He created us as we are.  So instead of turning men into wimps or castigating boys for being boys, let us celebrate each other knowing that though we are different, we are equal & God is glorified for that.

This all leads to why we have such debates in the first place.  Sin has entered our universe and with sin came the Curse.  Man and woman were perfect at one point until we sought to dethrone God.  At that point, the world began to spin out of control.  Death, decay, cancer, factions, selfishness, droughts, and divisions replaced what was once the perfect world we can only dream of today.  Once we thought of ourselves instead of God, we became slaves to sin.  And it continues to this day.

It is at this point that the BF&M 2000 picks up on the second aspect of Anthropology.  The first was more theological, the second – driven out of that theology – more cultural and moral.  Clearly the BF&M 2000 has in mind issues regarding life like abortion, euthanasia, embryonic stem cell research, murder, and other issues regarding life and the taking of life.  As Christians we would also add rape, violence, injustice, and other social issues such as poverty and crime to the equation as well.

How the theology affects our morality should be obvious.  If man is created in the image of God and thus has inherent dignity, then to take innocent life is morally repugnant.  In Genesis 9 God clearly states that any forms of murder is evil because the life of an image bearer of God is being taken.  Being the author and creator of human life, only God reserves the right and authority to determine our days from conception to death.  The BF&M 2000 goes into some detail surveying this issue.  Human life, at its conception, has a level of dignity unmatched by any other creatures and thus ought to have the full rights that any other born human being in a society. Life is precious because it originates with God.  To take the life of an innocent human being, made in the image of God, is an attack on God Himself. 

As a result, the many moral and ethical issues along with the many cultural debates we have in this country aren’t trivial issues, but are theological issues.  They are gospel issues.  Let us not forget that the One who created us didn’t stop at the Curse in Genesis 3, but proceeded to Calvary where He bled and died in our behalf.  If life had no value, then please explain calvary.  Anthropology, then, is a gospel issue and we must, as always, return to the gospel in all that we say, do, believe, and vote.


For more:
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Introduction
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - Scripture
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God
This is Who We Are  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Father
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Son 
This is Who We Are:  What a Baptist Is and Believes - God the Spirit  

Holman Dictionary on Jonah

In my preparation for tonight's study of Jonah, I came across some insightful quotes from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary.  The entry on the book of Jonah is perhaps the best I came across covering the message of the book and the issues surrounding it in brief.

To begin, the editors note how many since the rise of modern liberalism and biblical criticism have enjoyed picking on Jonah arguing that it is simply a fable or a myth rejecting its historicity.  The reasons for this should be obvious on the surface.  For one, fish don't swallow people only to vomit them up again.  Likewise, plants don't grow and then be eaten by a small worm in a matter of minutes or hours.  The problem with such arguments is to assume that the God of creation has no control over His creation.  If God is supernatural and not bound by natural laws, then it is logical to conclude that He can override natural laws in a supernatural way.  Jonah is no exception.

The dictionary writes:

Many since the 19th Century AD have regarded Jonah as a parable or didactic fiction, as if factual history were ruled out by literary artistry or the recounting of miraculous events.  If this narrative, however, whose form bears at every point the mark of a historical account, was judged unhistorical on either of these bases, then most of the Bible would follow easily along.  It is pointless to ask whether Jonah really could have been swallowed by a great fish without also asking whether God really could communicate with a prophet.  Every aspect of man’s encounter with God is miraculous.  Jonah is clearly didactic, but it is not presented as fiction or interpreted as such by Jesus (cp. Matt. 12:40-41).   -942

Also, the entry discusses why Jonah was so adamant to not preach repentance to the Ninehvites.  This is helpful because oftentimes we read Jonah without realizing the difficulty of the task Jonah was asked to complete.  Would we go to the inner circle of the most wicked terrorist and proclaim the gospel to them?  I am willing to bet we wouldn't simply because we would think that they wouldn't deserve the good news.

Jonah was not pleased when God commanded him to go to Nineveh and preach repentance.  The Assyrians worshiped the vicious god Ashur and a multitude of other gods and goddesses.  Assyrian brutality and cruelty were legendary.  The Assyrians were known to impale their enemies on stakes in front of their towns and hang their heads from trees in the king’s gardens.  They also tortured their captives – men, women, or children – by hacking off noses, ears, or fingers, gouging out their eyes, or tearing off their lips and hands.  They reportedly covered the city wall with the skins of their victims.  Rebellious subjects would be massacred by the hundreds, sometimes burned at the stake.  Then their skulls would be placed in great piles by the roadside as a warning to others.  Jonah decided that he would rather quit the prophetic ministry than preach to such people.  Nineveh was about 500 miles to the east, so he headed for Tarshish, probably what is now Spain, the farthest western location he knew, about 2,000 miles.  -945


*  The above picture is of Jonah preaching in Nineveh.

Bibledex on Jonah

Here is the video from the folks at Bibledex.  I must say I am surprised that they don't come out and reject the historicity of the book.  They in fact, almost ignore some of the modern criticism's of the book which is unlike them.  So in that sense, this is perhaps my favorite they have done thus far.



They have also put together a second video with more footage from theologians talking about Jonah. Unlike the video above, one scholar emphasizes that Jonah is a satire.  Although I agree there are satire in the story, I do not believe that the story itself is only satire.  Just like Jesus used satire and humor in His ministry, so too the writer of Jonah offers a historical tale weaving in satire to make an even finer point.  Here it is:





For more:
Bibledex on Malachi 
Bibledex on Nahum  
Bibledex on Habbakuk 
Bibledex on Zephaniah
Bibledex on Zechariah
Bibledex on Malachi  
Bibledex on Matthew 
Bibledex on Mark  
Bibledex on Luke 
Bibledex on John 
Bibledex on Romans
Bibledex on 2 Corinthians
Bibledex on Ephesians 
Bibledex on Philippians
Bibledex on Colossians 
Bibledex on 2 Thessalonians  

Veggie Tales and Jonah

I found this hilarious.  Tonight we'll be studying the book of Jonah and the folks over at Veggie Tales have an entire movie dedicated to the prophet's story.  What follows is the blooper real from the movie put together by the makers.  I also recommend watching the movie especially if you have kids.  Its pretty good and covers the entire story.



If you would like to watch the entire movie online for free, click here.  I am unable to embed the video, but it is through youtube.  And to top it all off, here is a music video from one of my favorite bands, Newsboys, called "In the Belly of the Whale" that was on the soundrack for the movie:

30 Hour Famine Information

In the upcoming months, I want us as a church and as a youth group to participate in the 30 Hour Famine.  For more information on what this is, the folks over at World Vision have provided us with some videos to help us understand what it is and its purpose.  I hope this helps.




;lkasdf  I also want to point you to a link at the 30 Hour Famine website that shows what rewards are available for those who participate.  Though our motivation for doing this shouldn't be to be rewarded, there are nonetheless gifts for those who raise money.  Depending on how much you raise, you can win anything as small as a pin to anything as hats, shirts, bags, and so much more.  Click here for more.

MacDonald on the Love of God

This Sunday we will be discussing the love of God and what a wonderful doctrine it is!  One of my favorite pastors, Dr. James MacDonald, was once interviewed on the subject.  Here is what he had to say: