9 Marks September/October E-journal

Today 9 Marks has come out with their new ejournal for the next two months and it covers a great topic, Parenting. Not only do they take a Biblical look at parenting, but also an indepth look at how we as Christians should be raising out children inside and outside the Church. I think that this would be a great read for anyone who has kids, is thinking about starting a family or hopes to one day get married and have children. (as the Bible tells us to do, multiply!) So enjoy and tell me what you think.

JG

9 Marks website:
http://www.9marks.org/

An Election of Change?

Politics time....Now I can feel the excitement coming off the page as you read this blog. You are so curious to know my opinion on this upcoming election. Many of you are desperately anticipating what I have to say about this ultra important, world changing, economic improving, aisle crossing election. So let me begin with this....Nothing will change come November 4, 2008! The world will not collapse, the stock market will not implode, and God will not burn America to the ground; nor will peace on earth be achieved, climate change be reversed, all the trees cut down in the rain forrest regrow, or the dollar suddenly overtake the pound. Now why do I say this? Because, I am tired of all the talk about change, Washington being broken, and the other party across the aisle being the spawn of satan and failing horribly to do their task. Do I think that these things are not true? NO! But do I really think that all of our hopes hang on either one of the candidates presented to us? Nope, can't say that I do. In my humble opinion, and please feel free to disagree I want to spur some conversation here, no matter what happens real change will not come to America because we elected the first minority president or because we elected an old moderate Republican. Change will only come, politically, when we begin to hold our representatives responsible for the way in which they represent us. This is the key in my opinion and something that the American people have not done for sometime. We have stood idly by while those in Washington have misspent our tax dollars, convened nonsensical inquiries in the goings on of sports teams, and conducted themselves in inappropriate behaviors that no leader in their right mind should be involved in. That's what needs to change. And all the pandering to constituents is just blinding people to the reality.
However, we the people are the ones ultimately to blame for all of this. This government was put into our hands and we have failed to keep it intact the way our original Founding Fathers hoped we would. I am reminded by a quote of Benjamin Franklin when asked by a lady about what type of government he and his fellow writers had been drafting for the people and he replied, "A Republic, Madame, if you can keep it that way." And sadly we the people have not. We have sold out to a secular idea of democracy that does not promote the common welfare, but only those who are on welfare. We have demanded the rich share their wealth, and killed our free market economy. This is not the government for the people by the people that was established just over 200 hundred years ago and may never be again if people do not start taking responsibilities for themselves and their behaviors and not wait on some entitlement program to bail them out for their not having retirement saved up, medical bills paid, or health care for their young. This is not the job of a Republic. Sure in some countries the job of providing all these things is left up to the government, but if I remember my history correctly we were in a Cold War with these types of governments because they were Communist and oppressed their people to the point that there was no class system, no chance for advancement, and if they wanted to take your 3 year old daughter away and make her a gymnastics star then they were free to do so because it might just put some extra money in your pocket that I assume would be quickly taken away by the governments heavy tax burden.
Now I do not mean to sound harsh but have the words of the Preacher in Ecclesiates gone totally ignored by us to not see the cyclical nature of what is going on around us. By saying we want more "freedoms" what we have done is given ourselves over to big government, outlandish spending, a dept that would make any homeowner feel good about their impending bankruptcy. No, the change will not come in November, it will only come when We the People of these United States of America decide that we want moral ethical leaders, who rule their house and family well, and are as good stewards of our tax dollars as they are their own incomes. And until we demand and receive this type of leadership our country will continue to suffer and we will continue to feel deceived by those we have elected.

Finally, let me say that as a Christian my hope is not in any government whatsoever. The kingdom I serve is the one not of this world, but the one that is here in part now and will be fully in time to come. It is here now in the hearts of all those who truly profess and live in Christ, and will fully come at His return when there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth. While I am here though, I will respect and honor those in authority over me, and earnestly pray for them. But my allegiance is to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and that is why I can say that I am not at all worried or concerned with who becomes our next president because I know it will be the man God has to either bless us or condemn us.

The Church in America part 3: Preaching the Bible

It is time now to get back to the series on The Church in America. Last time I wrote about the role of scripture in the church from a theological standpoint. This time I want to show how practically this should be done in the local church.
The first thing I would like to do is to take a look at some verses of scripture that will help us get a Biblical view of the purpose for the scripture practically in the church. The text is found in 2 Timothy 4:1-5:

I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. As for you, always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Here, we see what Paul felt was the most important piece of advice he could pass on to his "pupil", Timothy. His great advice, "Preach the Word"! Now, it does not get any less complicated or simple than that. The duty of the pastor in the church is to "Preach the Word", and we know that because this whole section of books, The Pastoral Epistles (1&2 Timothy and Titus), is written by Paul through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to tell pastors and churches what the responsibilities of the office of pastor should include. Then he gives Timothy this charge to preach the word.

Paul even goes so far as to tell why it is so important for Timothy to do this. Verse 5, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions." Is this not what has happened in the church in America today? Have people not developed "itching ears" because they want preachers and pastors to tell them what they want to hear, what will "suit their own passions"? Certainly! However, it is not that people have developed "itching ears" that is the problem though. The problem is that too many pastors, preachers and churches have pandered to these people and have forsaken the charge given to Timothy by Paul, to grow larger churches that in the end do not preach truth but whatever it is their listeners desire to have told to them. Which usually is something along the lines of "I'm okay, your okay", "How to get your best life now" or some type of "health and wealth" gospel that will send more people to hell than give them any opportunity for hearing and responding in faith to the truth of Christ.

Understand that the reason Paul tells Timothy to do this is because he had already experienced these types of people from the Judaizers in Jerusalem to the immature Corinthians to the legalistic Galatians. He knows that even in a time so close to the life of Christ that people were already finding ways to distort the true Gospel for a gospel they found more convenient or easier to hear and there by live by. But how are churches and pastors suppose to do to combat this hostility and ignorance to the Truth? "PREACH THE WORD"! Preach Christ and Him crucified. Preach with conviction and passion the Cross of Jesus. The bottom line is that somewhere along the way you will offend someone with something you are preaching whether you mean to or not. And if you are going to be offensive, you might as well offend people with the Truth of the Gospel than any thing else. Now, I do not say that to be crass or pessimistic, but I say that as the truth, and for those fellow pastors out there reading this you know exactly what I mean. Also notice that Paul even anticipates this happening, and that is why he tells the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 1: 10-30 that the Gospel is "offensive to some and a stumbling block to others".

Finally, it is my hope that as the church and pastors get back to a more Bible centered preaching ministry, they will also get back to Expository preaching as their main mode of preaching. First, let me say to this that I know there are different styles of preachers and preaching out there today, but I feel as far as pastoring goes there is no better way to communicate the "whole counsel of God" to your people than by doing it expositionally. There may be times that God calls you to preach a more topical or contextual sermon to your people, based upon their needs or your concerns on any given Sunday, but mainly I feel we should preach more often what the Bible says about itself than what we think, feel, or assume the scriptures have to say about Christ, the church, or even culture. Secondly, I think attempting to preach expositionally drives a pastor to study his text more and his Bible more so that he can be better prepared for feeding his people. Proper expository preaching takes time and effort to get the hang of. A preacher must know his text back and forth, know the original language or meaning of the text to the best of his ability, and know what the historical and cultural implications were for the people the text was originally written to. This takes time, prayer and much consideration to do, and I think will benefit the church more when they see their pastor making a strong effort to feed them properly. Thirdly, expositional preaching gives you no wiggle room when it comes to preaching what the text says. Why was the Reformation so important? Because of a lack of faithfulness to the scripture by Rome. Why, only a few years ago, was it believed that certain people should not be evangelized based solely on the color of their skin? Because of a lack of faithfulness to the scripture by many preachers in the South. Why is it today that so many people think that it is more important to be concerned with environmental, cultural and political topics than the Gospel? Because of a lack of faithfulness to the scripture by liberal preachers in America. You see, the church in America is not in such disarray because of what is going on culturally, socially, economically, or politically; but because we have abandoned preaching the word expositionally and our people do not what God has to say about our situation today. We just have to go back to studying and preaching the Word and take it for what it says literally to see these things.

However, I know that expositional preaching is not an end all and be all for the church, yet it is a very good place to start if you are a pastor trying to make the Bible the focus of your congregation. Which is what I pray our churches would be all about: Making the Holy Word of God and the glorification of the Father our aim as we preach, sing, and pray together on the Lord's Day!

Lessons from England

Well I just want to start out by saying, "Thank you" to all of you who prayed for the EIM team and I as we traveled to Coleford, England last week to do an Overseas Bible School (OBS) for Coleford Baptist Church. The trip was great and for any of you our there who have the disposable income to travel abroad I highly recommend going to the Forrest of Dean on the border of Wales and England. It is a beautiful place with gorgeous scenery and great historical sites as well.
As far as the purpose of our trip is concerned though we, in our opinions, had a very successful bible school, or "Holiday Club" (that was what the church in Coleford called it). With England being a country in a post-Christian culture we really didn't know what to expect as far as attendance and participation during the week, but we found the church there in Coleford very exited about the possibilities of what the bible school might help do for the church there. Sunday we found out that 33 children had preregistered for the Bible school and when Monday morning arrived we had 45 4-12 years old for our first day. We also very quickly realized that we were dealing with children who really knew very little of the scriptures as well as the Gospel. Altogether for the week we had a high day of 54 children, but probably saw around 75 different children during the week. It was a challenging week for me personally because I helped teach the 6-8 year old class and it gave me the opportunity to condense the Gospel into a way that each of them could understand the truth of Christ. I was very careful though not to water-down the importance of the Gospel, nor their need to except it, and even with some "constructive criticism" I felt that most of the children got a faithful presentation of the truth of their need for the righteousness of God in their lives, through the sacrifice of Christ, because of the sin they have inherited and committed that separates them from God. We did have one profession of faith while we were there but only God knows and time will tell the impact that we were able to make there through the teaching of the Word of God.
Let me say here a BIG THANK YOU to the members of Coleford Baptist Church, your hospitality during the week was better than any of us could have asked for. Also, I want to say Thank you to Pastor Peter for allowing us to come into his church and teach in our awful American accents. Also, I want to thank Peter and Leslie Richardson who opened up their home to my Father and I. We had great conversation, breakfast, hot tea, and a warm bed everyday and it was truly a blessing being in their company. Finally, I want to thank the members of the EIM team for their great work. Chad and Jai Stephenson did a tremendous job with the older group all week, and Chad even found out that he could play the guitar well enough to help me lead the children in music. Andy, Tamie, Kelsey, and Eric Rogers were also a tremendous family to have with us. Andy and Eric did puppets during the week, Tamie taught the 6-8 year old class with me, and Kelsey did a fantastic job of teaching the 4-5 year old group. My sister, Julie and my Dad, Mike (our fearless leader) also did a great job during the OBS. Julie took on the huge task of doing the crafts with the children throughout the week and they loved everything they were allowed to make, color, cut, and glue all week long. Dad did a good job as well of motivating us to never lose sight of what we were there to do no matter how discouraged we got. Finally, (I know I said that already but I really must include this) the BIGGEST THANK YOU of all goes out to John and Fiona Cooke, our dearest of friends there in Coleford. Our relationship with them started just over four years ago in a very providential way and has become a friendship that goes beyond words. John and Fee put their lives on hold for us for an entire week, and having two young children that is no small feat, to make sure that we were taken care of at all times. I love them from the depths of my heart and could never truly put into words what their relationship means to me. They truly are my Brother and Sister in Christ, and being away from them for these last few days has been excruciatingly painful. I miss them, I love them, and I hope that somehow I can see them again very soon.
Quickly, before I go today I want to also say one word about the overwhelming need for us as Christians today to be faithful to tell others the Gospel in a way that leaves non-believers no doubt about where they stand before God and their need to receive the Gospel immediately upon this discovery. On the plane to Birmingham, England I read the book The Gospel and Personal Evangelism by Mark Dever. It really was a great help to me in preparing me before hand to be confident about how I felt the Gospel needed to be taught and delivered so that all of the children that I came across would have a clear understanding of what the Gospel really is. I recommend this book to anyone struggling to be a faithful witness for Christ in these difficult times. Too many times today, as I have already wrote about on this site, it seems that people are more concerned with acceptance than telling others, "the hope that is within them." Peter makes it clear in his writings and by the statement I just quoted of his that there will come times that people will ask or we will be motivated by the Spirit to tell them what it is that has set us apart from them and filled us with such great joy. And when those moments come we should not be lacking in our evangelism of the Gospel, but we should be bold knowing that we are the ones who hold the key to the Truths of the Kingdom. No one will ever come to faith by simply being a friend of a Christian, a participant in a church, or a worker in a Bible school unless someone they know to be a Christian tells them how they can become a believer. And this is the way it should happen. Christians should be unashamed when it comes to explaining what it is they believe in and hold to for their salvation, and not overly concerned with what sharing that message might mean for their reputation or cultural acceptance. Stephen, Paul, Peter, and the list could go on and on were not worried about what sharing the True Gospel to others might mean for their lives here on this earth. That's why all of them died doing that very thing. Oh, that we would long more for the everlasting joy of our eternal home than for the fleeting moments of pleasure this earth has for us.
Would you do me a favor this week and pray along with me that we would be a more faithful people in sharing the Gospel? I by know means am perfect in this work and I need your prayers of support to make me more aware of the times and chances that God gives me to share my faith each and every day. Let's also pray that when those opportunities come that we wouldn't shrink down in our telling of the Gospel, but that we would be bold and courageous and tell others the truth of their need to Go to Christ and to Him alone for what they need in salvation. We are not kept here as Christians to get into debates about Global warming, political elections, or any other non-Kingdom concerning conversations we find ourselves in periodically. We are here to fulfill the Great Commission of Christ. We are here to Evangelize, Baptize, and Catechize until the Lord calls us home and can say to us, "Well done my good and faithful servant!"