The Holy Church: The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed

I'm doing some early study and research on next Sunday's sermon which will be on the holiness of the church.  The classic Four Marks of the Church are taken from the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed:  One, Holy, Universal (word used is Catholic) and Apostolic.  The church is all four of them and we will highlight the second of these Sunday.

Below is the classic creed which reflects Nicea's theology as well as hints of the Apostle's Creed. 

I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible;

And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten, Begotten of the Father before all ages, Light of Light, True God of True God, Begotten, not made, of one essence with the Father, by Whom all things were made:

Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, and was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and was made man;

And was crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried;

And the third day He rose again, according to the Scriptures;

And ascended into heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of the Father;

And He shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, Whose kingdom shall have no end.

And I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and Giver of Life, Who proceedeth from the Father, Who with the Father and the Son together is worshipped and glorified, Who spoke by the Prophets;

And I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

I acknowledge one Baptism for the remission of sins.

I look for the Resurrection of the dead,

And the Life of the age to come. Amen.


For more:
GBC - The Nicene Creed 

August 21, 2011 | The Trinity and the Church: Unified Diversity

I know I'm a few days behind, but here is the sermon audio and notes from this past Sunday.  We discussed how the Trinity helps us to understand what it means to be the church.  If it is elementary Christianity to say that we ought to be like Christ, then it ought to be elementary to say that the church ought to be like the Trinity.  We begin with the truth that the Trinity is a Unified Diversity:  one God in three Persons.  That has huge implications on the church.

For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. ⁴ For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, ⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. ⁶ Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly: if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; ⁷ if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; ⁸ or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. -Romans 12:3-8


⁴ Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. ⁵ And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. ⁶ There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons. ⁷ But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. ⁸ For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; ⁹ to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, ¹⁰ and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. ¹¹ But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
 ¹² For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. ¹³ For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit.
 ¹⁴ For the body is not one member, but many. ¹⁵ If the foot says, “Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear says, “Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body,” it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But now God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. ¹⁹ If they were all one member, where would the body be? ²⁰ But now there are many members, but one body. ²¹ And the eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you”; or again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” ²² On the contrary, it is much truer that the members of the body which seem to be weaker are necessary; ²³ and those members of the body which we deem less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor, and our less presentable members become much more presentable, ²⁴ whereas our more presentable members have no need of it. But God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, ²⁵ so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. ²⁶ And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.
 ²⁷ Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it. ²⁸ And God has appointed in the church, first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, various kinds of tongues. ²⁹ All are not apostles, are they? All are not prophets, are they? All are not teachers, are they? All are not workers of miracles, are they? ³⁰ All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? ³¹ But earnestly desire the greater gifts.
   And I show you a still more excellent way.  -1 Corinthians 12:4-31


Audio 
Notes 





For more:
Sermon - August 7, 2011 | The Story of the Church  
Sermon - July 31, 2011 | Ephesians 2:11-22 - Brown & Black Don't Make Gray: Art, The Gospel, and Church Unity
Sermon - July 24, 2011 | 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 - I Pray, Therefore I Am: The Emptiness of a Privatized Faith & Why Comfort Is Meant to Be Shared
Sermon - September 27, 2009 - Matthew 16:13-21: Don't Just Stand There. Do Something!
Sermon - Ephesians 4:12: How God Grows His Church  
GBC - This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - The Church
GBC - The Church As Family  
GBC - Do We Want a Museum or a Movement?
GBC - Cool Churches Are Empty Churches: The Wall Street Journal Wakes Us Up
GBC - Are We Contemporvant? 
GBC - "Christ, Christ Baby!":  Why I Do Not Seek to Be Relevant 
GBC - How To Grow a Church and Fill It With Unconverted Believers: A Humorous But Sad Video
GBC - Will They Stay?: Rainer on Returning Guests
GBC - Me Church  
GBC - A Divine Kick in the Pants: Jim Elliot and the Call to Go Out  
Blogizomai - Accomodationism Breed Irrelevancy:  Why Liberalism Fails and the Transcendent Gospel Triumphs  

Ware on the Trinity & Relationships

One of my favorite books on the Trinity is Dr. Bruce Ware's wonderful book Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance.  One of the emphasis of the book regards how each member of the Trinity submits to the other.  In particularly, the Father exercises headship over the Son and Spirit and thus the Son obeys the Father in complete and full obedience.

One can probably see why this would be controversial.  Do you see the implications?  If there is a distinction of roles yet equality in essence even within the Trinity, then why not among humans?  As in marriage and gender roles.  If it is biblical and correct to say that God is the head of Christ (though same in essence, both fully, completely, and distinctively God and at the same time one) then why is it wrong to say that the man is the head of the household?  Hence the controversy and the resistance.

But I consider this to be an important point about the Trinity.  Christ is complete, satisfied, and glorified in His role as the Son without the need to be the Father or the Spirit.  In other words, Christ never rebels against the Father and is at the same time exalted.  That is to say, there is God-glorying joy to excel in the office and role given to us.  Whether we be male or female, black or white, politician or voter, employer or employee, singer or songwriter, front stage or back stage, married or single, student or teacher, etc.  God wants us to be satisfied and content with where He has us and how He has made us.

Thus in application to gender roles, let us glorify God in the roles He has given us.  Being male isn't better than being female.  God is glorified in both.  Let us then not engage in the wars of the sexes, but maximize our masculinity and femininity to God's glory.  Celebrate the diversity and pursue unity.

This also applies to the church as we will discuss Sunday morning.

Here is what Dr. Ware has to say on the subject;

3.  The relationships in the trinity exhibit so beautifully a unity that is not redundancy, and a diversity that is not discord.


Consider again the difference between unison and harmony in music.  Unison achieves a kind of unity, but w/o texture and with built-in redundancy.  With unison, you have several voices singing the same melody.  And while unison has its own beauty, there is in harmony a kind of glorious unity with texture and complexity that is simply lacking with unison.  The unity achieved through harmony avoids redundancy, for every voice matters ,and every part contributes its unique sound.  The beauty of harmony is a beauty of diversity w/o discord, of distinctiveness w/o disarray, of complexity w/o cacophony.
 
While only an analogy, the contrast between unison and harmony helps reflect something true of the Trinity.  Here, we have a three-part harmony n which each “Voice” sings the same song, following the same composition and reading off the same page, yet each Voice joyfully sings a difference part, and the three together contribute a richness and texture that no one voice alone could accomplish.
 
In our own relationships in the home and in ministry, we should endeavor, by God’s grace, to model our work and worship in ways that reflect the Trinitarian unity expressed through harmony.  This will mean, on the one hand, that we celebrate rather than begrudge many of the differences among us.  When we insist that everyone be just like ‘me,’ we have settled for the unity of unison and we have lost the vision of harmony. Rather than bemoan the fact that God gives various gifts in the body of Christ, and rather than look down on others whose interests in ministry and service vary from our own, e can see these as the harmonious display of various ‘voices’ which, if they sing correctly, can create a beautiful common song.  Our differences, so long as they are within the boundaries of the moral character of God and express the gifting of the Spirit, need to be embraced and employed in Christian service, both in the home and in the church.
 
On the other hand, work and worship that reflect the Trinitarian unity expressed through harmony will also seek to follow one conductor and to sing or play off the same score of music.  When the differences among us result in each person doing what is right in his or her own eyes, we have moved from harmony into the pain and hurt of anarchy.  Harmony works only with differences that are fettered by common cause.  Our various parts must be played or sung according to what the common music o the whole choice or orchestra calls for.  We must all be seeking to follow the same leader and make our contributions in ways that assist the whole.  In the Trinity, the various parts played by the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit lead to the beauty and unity of harmony, and this is the model we should emulate in our relationships.  -Bruce Ware, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: Relationships, Roles, and Relevance, 135-36

For more:
GBC - Unified Diversity - The Church & Flyleaf's Beautiful Bride
GBC - Driscoll on Trinitarian Heresies and Living the Trinitarian Life   

GBC - DeYoung on the Trinity  
GBC - MacArthur on the Comfort of the Spirit 
GBC - The Nicene Creed 
GBC - November 20, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Father
GBC - November 28, 2010 - God is Triune:  God the Spirit
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:  Triune Praise 

Unified Diversity - The Church & Flyleaf's Beautiful Bride

One of my favorite rock bands in recent years is Flyleaf - a band of Christians who have had some mainstream success.  The first track of their latest full length album, Memento Mori (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Deluxe Version) is called "Beautiful Bride" and is about the church.  The emphasis of the song is summed up in the first line:  "Unified Diversity functioning of One Body."

I know the song is a bit rockish, so the video below includes the lyrics and I have posted the lyrics below the video.  Its a good song with a great message and reflects some of what we will discuss Sunday.




Here are the lyrics:

Unified diversity
Functioning as one body
Every part encouraged by the other
No one independent of another
Irreplaceable, indispensable
You're incredible
Incredible

Beautiful bride
Body of Christ
One flesh abiding
Strong and unifying
Fighting ends in forgiveness
Unite and fight all division
Beautiful bride

Strengthen your arms now
Train your fingers for battle
Urgency's here now
Train your fingers for battle
Fighting this violence
With your feet wrapped in peace
Sad tears and silence
Now screams of joy
Victory

We're not gonna fall and forget
How far You went to pick us up
If one part's hurt the whole body's sick
If one part mourns we all mourn with Him
Rejoice, and we'll sing with You
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah



For more:
GBC - It is Well With My Soul: The Story of Horatio Spafford
GBC - Nothing But the Blood 
GBC - Third Day: Our God is a "Consuming Fire"

"Why Don't You Ever Do Anything For Me?"

Our church (and certainly I) need this.

Credit:  Naked Pastor 

The God Who Became Man: Millard Erickson on the Implications of the Humanity of Christ

In preparation for tonight's Bible study, I came across the following paragraphs from Millard Erickson's great systematic theology text Christian Theology regarding the implications of the doctrine of Christ's humanity.  We wholeheartedly affirm the deity of Christ, but too many of us, as Evangelical, Conservative, Baptist Christians, fail to reflect, study, and apply the important doctrine of Christ's deity.

What Erickson offers below is a good summary of the practicality of this doctrine.  Remember that all doctrines are practical and all of us are theologians. Thus what we believe about the doctrine of Christ (Christology) matters and thus it is important to consider both the deity and the humanity of Christ.  Erickson gives us a good sample as to why.

1.  The atoning death of Jesus can truly avail for us.  It was not some outsider to the human race who died on the cross.  He was one of us, and thus could truly offer a sacrifice on our behalf.  Just like the Old Testament priest, Jesus was a human who offered a sacrifice on behalf of his fellows.


2.  Jesus can truly sympathize with and intercede for us.  He has experienced all that we might undergo.  When we are hungry, weary, lonely, he fully understands, for he has gone through it all himself (Heb. 4:15).


3.  Jesus manifests the true nature of humanity.  While we are sometimes inclined to draw our conclusions as to what humanity is from an inductive examination of ourselves and those around us, these are but imperfect instances of humanity.  Jesus has not only told us what perfect humanity is, he has exhibited it.


4.  Jesus can be our example.  He is not some celestial superstar but one who has lived where we live.  We can therefore look to him as a model of the Christian life.  The biblical standards for human behavior, which seem to us to be so hard to attain, are seen in him to be within human possibility.  Of course, there must be full dependence upon the grace of God.  The fact that Jesus found it necessary to pray and depend upon the Father is indication that we must be similarly reliant upon him.


5.  Human nature is good.  When we tend toward asceticism, regarding human nature, and particularly physical nature, as somehow inherently evil or at least inferior to the spiritual and immaterial, the fact that Jesus took upon himself our full human nature is a reminder that to be human is not evil, it is good.


6.  God is not totally transcendent.  He is not so far removed from the human race.  If he could actually live among us at one time as a real human person, it is not surprising that he can and does act within the human realm today as well.


With John we rejoice that the incarnation was real and complete:  "The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.  We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14).

-Millard Erickson, Christian Theology, 737-738.

Let me also point you to one other point hinted at in the list above (regarding Jesus' work as our Intercessor and Mediator).  And that is the fact that the sacrifice of God only is problematic for a number of reasons.  First of all, God is eternal and not subject to human weakness and the Fall.  In other words, God can never and will never succumb to death.  But there is another reason beyond this obvious point.  Jesus has to be both God and man because both are necessary for Him to be our propitiatory sacrifice and our mediator.  How?  The Docetic belief that it was God (who only "appeared" to be a man) who was on the cross is problematic for the same reason that it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away human sin (Hebrews 10:4).  Animals aren't human enough to be the perfect sacrifice and mediator for salvation.  Similarly, if Christ is not both Divine and Human, then He is not human enough to be the perfect sacrifice and mediator for our salvation.  Christ, as our Mediator, must be both.

This is why Paul boldly proclaims, "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Timothy 2:5).


For more:
Sermon - December 26, 2010 - Jesus is Man  
GBC - Mahaney on the Person and Work of Christ:  Christ Our Mediator  
GBC - Stomach Virus' and the Humanity of Christ:  Moore on the Suffering and Sick Servant
GBC - Sayers on the Incarnation of Christ  
GBC - If Jesus Were Born in Our Digital Age
Blogizomai - We Are All Theologians: The Root of Everything We Are and Do 

Repost | "A Light to the Nations"

One of the growing and popular trends in ecclesiology and evangelicalism is the missional movement.  In this book, Dr. Michael Goheen offers an missional ecclesiology that traces the biblical story.  From the first line, the author states that his thesis is to analyze the missional identity of the church by tracing its role in the biblical story (ix).  Goheen has a background in missional thinking and seeks to present the reader with an ecclesiology, rooted in the biblical narrative, that reflects missional convictions.  However, he notes that even the best missional books, thus far, have little sustained biblical-theological and exegetical work (ix).  And thus he seeks to present such a book that has been lacking in missional circles.
  
The author begins with a simple and important idea.  God has promised that he would bring about a new world and he would make it visible through community.  This is why ecclesiology is so important.  The local church and the universal church, rooted in the biblical narrative and the missional drive, will create such a world.
  
The problem is that the church is captivated to bad theology, cultural accommodation, etc.  Thus the author seeks to return the reader back to Jesus and the Gospels – the church’s origins.  Central to the Gospels and the ministry of Jesus was His preaching on the Kingdom of God.  Goheen says that the Kingdom is about cosmic renewal, the restoration of all creation and all human life and society; it is not the kind of announcement that should be tucked away in the religion section of the newspaper (17).  And it is in this message of the Kingdom of God, fulfilled in the cross and resurrection, that Goheen sees as central to a missional ecclesiology. 
  
The author sees the Kingdom of the God central to the gospel and the gospel central to missional ecclesiology.  Here he sees five landmarks of the gospel on ecclesiology.  First, the gospel demands of its hearers that it be accepted as the real story of our world (18)  Secondly, God’s purpose and activity to renew the entire creation and the whole human life (19).  Thus it is the mission of God to restore the creation and the life of humanity from the ravages of sin (19).  Thirdly, is simply the coming of the Kingdom of God.  Fourthly, God works out his redemptive purposes in this story by choosing a people to make know to all where history is leading (19).  And finally, the gospel reveals that this community chose and sent by Jesus is both the beginning of something new and the continuation of something much older (20).
  
It is from here that Goheen launches into the rest of his book.  From here the author traces this biblical story by which God restores all things, gathering for Himself a people, and builds the Kingdom of God.  And it is here that much of the great insight of the book is gained.
  
First, his discussion of missions in the Old Testament is rare and helpful.  He breaks missions in the Old Testament down into three parts: Universalism, Incorportation of Outsiders, and Proselytism.  Ancient Judaism, up to the time of Jesus, saw missions in these three areas.  God is a universal God, the creator of all people.  And the drive towards proselyticism reaches its climax seemingly during the first century AD.  Few discuss this aspect of missions and the Kingdom of God.  What Jesus presents in the Gospels is a continuation and a fulfillment of the work that was expected of Israel.
  
This leads to the second great insight.  God seeks to gather to Himself a redeemed people.  That is what Israel was to be in the Old Testament: a light unto the nations.  The great difference between the Jews in the Old Testament and the young church in the New Testament is how easily and almost immediately they break down barriers and include both Jews and Gentiles.  The cross and resurrection stands as the climax of this story that ultimately fulfills God’s plan of gathering for Himself a people.

Thirdly, the author sees in the cross and the resurrection everything.  The passion of Christ is the fulcrum by which the church stands and falls.  Missional ecclesiology, that is, is based upon the work of Christ on the cross and resurrection.  The author argues the full significance to the church of the death and resurrection of Jesus has too often in the last two centuries been let unexplored (101).  It is a connection that is rarely made.  The cross and resurrection drastically affects our ecclesiology.
  
And this leads to the fourth insight.  The emphasis on the communal aspect of the gospel is eye opening to how we present a more complete gospel.  The author does not diminish the individual aspects of the gospel.  Certainly we must embrace the gospel, we must be transformed, we must repent, and we must be more like Christ.  But limiting the gospel to individualism leaves it incomplete.  The gospel has a communal aspect of it and we must proclaim it.  Remember, God is gathering for Himself a people and that is what the Kingdom of God is.  And the Kingdom of God is found through the gospel – the cross and resurrection of Jesus.
  
Finally, his discussion on the various images of the atonement is helpful.  The author does not discount, reject, or diminish substitutionary atonement.  Propitiation is upheld, affirmed, and we must take the author at his word.  There is nothing in the book to suggest that penal substitution is unbiblical, ought to be rejected, outdated, or unimportant.  In fact, the opposite is true.  However, the author does note that it is dangerous to limit the significance of the cross to one of these images.  He highlights three: Christus Victor, Substitution, and Christ as Representative.  The author suggests that the first two have historically been pitted against each other, yet both are important to fully understand the cross for a mission church (see 108). It is incredibly helpful to take Scripture at its word and to apply each motif allowing them to speak.  Goheen applies them to the church, but we could easily apply them to each extension of the atonement: the eschatological, the communal and cosmic, and the transformitive (to use the authors language 109).
  
This all leads to two basic questions.  The first regards how the missional movement has been understood.  It would be fascinating to hear him discuss the liberal trend within the missional movement.  Many have confused “being missional” with the likes of the Emergent Church.  And like the Emergent Church, missional communities promote community and the biblical story.  How can missional churches avoid the Emergent trap that tends towards liberalism?  Why does it seem like mission communities are more susceptible to liberalism?
  
Secondly, why has there been so little ecclesiology developed out of missional circles?  What Goheen presents here is fairly straightforward and not complicated.  What he argues here can be affirmed by those who have watched the missional movement from a distance.  All Goheen offers is a survey of the biblical story applied directly to the local and universal church.  He is careful to avoid many of the common traps and presents a case that ought to be taken seriously.  His admission that there has been little credible books written on gospel-centered missional ecclesiology is right.  But why?  It would seem that a movement this large would have developed a book by now.  Why the wait?


For more:
Reviews - "The Radical Reformission"  
Reviews - "Nehemiah Factor" by Frank Paige  
Reviews - "Compelled By Love" by Ed Stetzer and Philip Nation  

Repost | The Church as Family

I thought this video was really good.  Its a portion of a sermon delivered by Mark Driscoll who serves in Seattle, WA.  Driscoll goes into detail into why the local church is a family and what that means.  It would be important that we see our church in the same way.  Though we are perfect, we are still a family . . . not a business.





HT: Andrian Warnock







For more:
Sermon - August 7, 20 | The Story of the Church
Sermon - July 24, 2011 | 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 - I Pray, Therefore I Am: The Emptiness of a Privatized Faith & Why Comfort Is Meant to Be Shared
Sermon - July 31, 2011 | Ephesians 2:11-22 - Brown & Black Don't Make Gray: Art, The Gospel, and Church Unity
Sermon - September 27, 2009 - Matthew 16:13-21: Don't Just Stand There. Do Something!
Sermon - Ephesians 4:12: How God Grows His Church  
GBC - This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - The Church
GBC - The Church As Family  
GBC - Do We Want a Museum or a Movement?
GBC - Cool Churches Are Empty Churches: The Wall Street Journal Wakes Us Up
GBC - Are We Contemporvant? 
GBC - "Christ, Christ Baby!":  Why I Do Not Seek to Be Relevant 
GBC - How To Grow a Church and Fill It With Unconverted Believers: A Humorous But Sad Video
GBC - Will They Stay?: Rainer on Returning Guests
GBC - Me Church  
GBC - A Divine Kick in the Pants: Jim Elliot and the Call to Go Out  
Blogizomai - Accomodationism Breed Irrelevancy:  Why Liberalism Fails and the Transcendent Gospel Triumphs  
Reviews - "Do Hard Things"  
Theology - Mohler:  Youth Ministry in a New Key?  Substance Over Sugar-Coating 
Theology - Lets Get Back to Ministry:  When Entertainment Creeps into the Church 
Theology - Old Enough to Know Better. But I'm Still Too Young To Care 
Reviews - "Start Right Here"
Reviews - "Already Gone" 

August 7, 2011 | The Story of the Church

This past Sunday we officially began a new sermon series called "Mere Churchianity."  Our goal is to grasp an understanding of what the church is and how that applies to Goshen Baptist Church.  Although the previous two weeks have been centered on the church (one on the role of the church in suffering and the other on unity), we officially begin with a study of the story of the church.

There are a number of things to grasp from this story.  First, we are part of God's divine story.  God has blessed, redeemed, and built our church for the purpose of blessing others and being a light unto the nations which then results in His name being glorified.  It is all about Him.  It is not about us.  So any attempt to make the church about us - our wants, needs, desires, traditions, etc. - misses the point of the church's existence.  We exist to glorify God and we glorify God by being His light unto the world.

Secondly, this is why holiness is so important.  The church is the Kingdom of God in miniature, thus when people think of Goshen, do they see holiness on display, or something else.  The local church is made up of individual believers that make a collective whole.  Holiness is critical to being a light.

I strongly encourage you to download the notes which offer a more in-depth study. I had to skip a number of passages due to time (like Revelation).  Also, I encourage you to buy and read the book Light to the Nations, A: The Missional Church and the Biblical Story which was a huge influence and guide in this sermon.  I have not found another book yet that surveys the entire Bible in an attempt to understanding what God is doing in His Church.


Audio 
Notes





For more:
Sermon - July 24, 2011 | 2 Corinthians 1:3-11 - I Pray, Therefore I Am: The Emptiness of a Privatized Faith & Why Comfort Is Meant to Be Shared
Sermon - July 31, 2011 | Ephesians 2:11-22 - Brown & Black Don't Make Gray: Art, The Gospel, and Church Unity
Sermon - September 27, 2009 - Matthew 16:13-21: Don't Just Stand There. Do Something!
Sermon - Ephesians 4:12: How God Grows His Church  
GBC - This is Who We Are: What a Baptist Is and Believes - The Church
GBC - The Church As Family  
GBC - Do We Want a Museum or a Movement?
GBC - Cool Churches Are Empty Churches: The Wall Street Journal Wakes Us Up
GBC - Are We Contemporvant? 
GBC - "Christ, Christ Baby!":  Why I Do Not Seek to Be Relevant 
GBC - How To Grow a Church and Fill It With Unconverted Believers: A Humorous But Sad Video
GBC - Will They Stay?: Rainer on Returning Guests
GBC - Me Church  
GBC - A Divine Kick in the Pants: Jim Elliot and the Call to Go Out  
Blogizomai - Accomodationism Breed Irrelevancy:  Why Liberalism Fails and the Transcendent Gospel Triumphs  
Reviews - "Do Hard Things"  
Theology - Mohler:  Youth Ministry in a New Key?  Substance Over Sugar-Coating 
Theology - Lets Get Back to Ministry:  When Entertainment Creeps into the Church 
Theology - Old Enough to Know Better. But I'm Still Too Young To Care 
Reviews - "Start Right Here"
Reviews - "Already Gone" 

July 31, 2011 | Ephesians 2:11-22 - Brown & Black Don't Make Gray: Art, The Gospel, and Church Unity

Another Glen Dean Day is in the bag and it was a good one. I enjoyed seeing everybody, the food was great, and the fellowship even better.


¹¹ Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh, who are called “Uncircumcision” by the so-called “Circumcision,” which is performed in the flesh by human hands— ¹² remember that you were at that time separate from Christ, excluded 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 formerly were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, ¹⁵ by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, ¹⁶ and might reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity. ¹⁷ AND HE CAME AND PREACHED PEACE TO YOU WHO WERE FAR AWAY, AND PEACE TO THOSE WHO WERE NEAR; ¹⁸ for through Him we both have our 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 are of God’s household, ²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.


Audio
Notes 





For more:
Sermon - Glen Dean Day 2010 | July 25, 2010 - Revelation 2:1-7 - All You Lack is Love: The Danger of a Cold Faith
Sermon - Glen Dean Day 2009 | Psalm 23:1:  The Peace of Contentment   

Owenton Teen Finishes 2nd in National Bible Drill

For those who read the Western Recorder, you may have read an article about a teenager from Owenton, KY (my home town) who got 2nd place in the national Bible Drill recently.  She is my youth pastors daughter and I strongly encourage everyone to read the article.  We're excited for her, it is a great honor, and she deserves it.


Owenton—Fifteen-year-old Autumn Adkins has been doing Bible drills for as long as she can remember.

Even before she was allowed to compete at the associational level, Autumn would practice alongside her much-older brother. At age 6, she recalled snapping to attention with a magazine between her hands—mimicking his response to “present Bible.”

Nine years, six trips to state-level competition and countless hours of scripture memorization later, Autumn achieved her highest honor when she placed second in the National Invitational Youth Bible Drill and Speakers Tournament in Birmingham, Ala., June 24.

The event drew participants from 11 states who competed in the categories of Youth Bible Drill (grades 7-9), High School Bible Drill (grades 10-12) and Youth Speaker (grades 10-12). Autumn was invited to participate in the national youth drill after taking first in April at the state qualifying round in Elizabethtown.

“It was very exciting,” Autumn said of the national tournament. “I had worked hard for it and it definitely made my parents proud.”

But, Autumn noted, participating in Bible drills is much more than winning competitions. The monthly, weekly and sometimes daily practice schedule provides its own rewards. 


“It’s also about hiding His word in our hearts and, when tested, being able to give a testament of your faith,” Autumn said. Someone recently tested her, and Autumn said she was glad to have that knowledge base to defend her Christian beliefs.


Western Recorder - Owenton Teen Takes 2nd Place at National Bible Drill