Boanerges

Truth spoken at the Emmy's

2010-01-23T16:35:00.000-05:00

What Joe is doing in Oregon

2010-01-20T20:46:00.001-05:00

By PARIS ACHEN

Mail Tribune

A group of parents who homeschool their children submitted an application Wednesday to found a public charter school for homeschoolers in the Medford School District.

Logos Charter School organizers said they want the K-12 school to serve as a guidance and resource center for parents of homeschoolers.

“The submission of the proposal started a 15-day clock,” said Rich Miles, Medford schools elementary education director.

The district administration, which governs the 12,000-student district, has 15 days to review the application to determine it is complete according to Medford School Board policy, Miles said.

If the application is complete, the board has 60 days to hold a public hearing on the proposal.

If the School Board agrees to sponsor the charter, the school would debut in the fall with up to 200 pupils, said John VonDoloski, one of the school’s organizers.

Students and their parents would continue to orchestrate their education at home but would be expected to meet weekly with a licensed teacher who would help plan and schedule lessons and monitor students’ progress, VonDoloski said. Each teacher would have a case load of 25 students or less.

“They have access to a credentialed teacher, and it doesn’t cost them anything,” he said.

The curriculum would be based on state standards, and students would be required to take the same state and local academic assessments that other Medford pupils have to take. On-site classes such as music or foreign languages could be made available at the school based on student demand, VonDoloski said.

“The concept is personalized learning,” he said. “The teacher sits down and does an assessment and personalizes the program specifically for the student.”

Students would have a $1,000 voucher each year to use toward their education, VonDoloski said. They could use the money to rent a laptop from the charter school, take a music lesson or enroll community college class, for example.

“It gives parents choices but also structure,” VonDoloski said.

He said he also expects high school students who haven’t thrived in traditional high school settings to seek out the school.

VonDoloski and his brother, Joe, came up with the idea after meeting a family whose children had attended the Visions in Education K-12 School, a charter school in Sacramento, Calif. Joe VonDoloski has worked as a school administrator and teacher in Texas and Michigan, while John VonDoloski has been a substitute teacher. John VonDoloski, a father of seven, and his wife homeschool their three eldest children, ages 7, 6 and 5.

“I work with other families who homeschool,” John VonDoloski said. “We are just trying to offer a school so that homeschoolers have a school where there is accountability and resources are available.”

Logos is modeled after Visions and the Alliance Charter Academy in Oregon City near Portland, which offer similar services. Logos organizers have been in close contact with administrators and teachers at Alliance and plan to visit the campus next week, VonDoloski said.

The brothers and other homeschool families started planning the charter school in September and received a $56,000 Oregon Charter School Planning Grant in December from the Oregon Department of Education.

There are about 1,000 registered homeschoolers in Jackson County, according to the Southern Oregon Education Service District.

Students who graduate from the charter school would earn a regular diploma from the Medford district rather than a GED, as some homeschoolers do.

As a public charter school, the program would be open to all Oregon residents without an inter-district and would be free of charge. Under state charter school law, the school would receive 80 percent of the state’s per-pupil funding amount, with the other 20 percent going to the Medford district. In exchange, the Medford district would provide some administrative services as well as oversight to ensure the school abides by its charter.

Logos would be Medford’s second charter school. Madrone Trail Public Charter School, a Waldorf-style school for grades K-4 that opened in 2007, was the district’s first.

For more information, on the Logos Charter School, call Joe VonDoloski at 989-370-5664.

What sustains me 2,000 miles from my family

2010-01-20T18:15:00.001-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/heidibug79

The difference between men and women

2010-01-18T22:50:00.001-05:00

Poetic Luther

2010-01-02T18:26:00.002-05:00

A person who gives this some thought and yet does not regard music as a marvelous creation of God, must be a clodhopper indeed and does not deserve to be called a human being; he should be permitted to hear nothing but the braying of asses and the grunting of hogs."
- Martin Luther

Then we do something like this and TOTALLY redeem ourselves

2009-12-27T22:44:00.000-05:00

Spurgeon quote

2009-12-26T11:44:00.000-05:00

"I never come to you, and, in forma pauperis, ask you to accept Christ, begging and praying you to take Christ, because otherwise he will be a loser by you. It is you who must beg of him. He giveth grace as a king bestows his favours; nay more, he lovingly condescends to entreat you to come to him."

Bah Hum-bug

2009-12-25T12:53:00.002-05:00

How about a post on the pagan origin of Christmas and how it should have no part in a church?

Or is it ok to take pagan holidays and baptize them, jump down turn around pick a bale of cotton...and call it Christian? Or Advent.

I hear so many people talk about the "true meaning" of Christmas and it is often on a Christmas card of their kid opening presents in front of the X-mas tree. I am doubting the kid is getting the true meaning, even if you do make a cake and sing happy birthday to Jesus.

One lady on the radio called in to share how she is "being intentional" this year for Christmas by using last year's decorations.

This is what I think: All the people who think they can combine "the true meaning of Christmas" with the rampant covetousness training are confused at best and at worst making a golden calf, calling it god and calling for everyone to dance, sing, and worship.

everyone wants to keep the CHRIST in CHRISTmas, but so little is said about THE MASS.

Christ MASS. I wonder what that word means?

Merry X-mas and Happy Holidays everyone.

On the job front...

2009-12-08T10:42:00.002-05:00

--- On Tue, 12/8/09, Joe Vondoloski wrote:

From: Joe Vondoloski
Subject: Pastor Search
To: wellstonchurch@yahoo.com
Date: Tuesday, December 8, 2009, 8:57 AM

Salary: $13k - $13k
Job Category: Senior Pastor
Job Status: Full-time
Education required: Seminary/graduate degree
Experience required (years): 5

So you want a man with $50,000 worth of seminary training plus 5 years experience,
plus and undergraduate degree, to move to an economically depressed area and work full time for $13,000.

I hope this is a mis-print. Otherwise, I would not sit by a phone waiting for the call.

I can just imagine what went on in the board meeting that came up with this bright idea.

What you are doing is called, Muzzling the ox.

-Joe VonDoloski

THE REPLY

Thank you for your assesment of our church. I assume you will not be applying.

I have a EdD in educational administration and am serving as the church secretary, School Teacher, Search Committee Member as well as numerous other activities. I receive no payment - I do this work because I love the Lord.

I will share your encouraging views with our Board.

Sincerely,

Dr. George James

Expositional Preaching

2009-10-21T10:47:00.001-04:00

The Definitions (From Mark Dever)

Anecdotal - a sermon in which the preacher primarily tells engaging stories with a moral lesson.
Biographical - a sermon in which the preacher traces the life of a biblical character and draws contemporary moral implications.
Topical - a sermon that has a topic in mind prior to consulting the text, and then searches for one or more biblical texts that address the topic chosen beforehand.
Textual - a sermon that refers often to a particular Biblical text, but does not take the main point of the text as its own.
Expositional - a sermon which takes the point of the text as the point of the sermon

What a crock!

2009-10-21T08:35:00.003-04:00

I am substitute teaching in a public school English class today. The following quote is on the wall detailing various famous authors:

"Nathaniel Hawthorne's Puritan ancestors are among those who persecuted witches at Salem. His guilt over his ancestor's behavior appear in his novels and short stories."

Comments?

If you have some free time on your hands...

2009-10-08T09:19:00.001-04:00

9/27/2009
Job Title
Pastor

Part-Time Position

Description:
Man to Preach the Word, conduct Bible studies, call on the sick and elderly and build up the church body. Build a youth program. Loving heart for others.

Requirement: Called of God, Some training helpful but not required. Experience preferable.

Compensation: negotiable (translation- we will pay for your gas, maybe more)

Church Info:
First Baptist Church, Andover
Map it
View Church Profile
5236 Stanhope Kellogsville Rd
Andover, OH 44003
Contact Name
Brian Hall
Email
bvathall@hotmail.com

Baby Pictures

2009-06-18T14:21:00.002-04:00

UPDATE

2009-06-11T14:09:00.002-04:00

Why I don't blog much anymore: Sitting down to my in-laws dial up internet is like sitting in the dentist chair and getting one of your important tooths pulled.

What I'm reading: Body of Divinity by Thomas Watson- a treasure trove of pearls, probably my favorite book of all time.

How I feel: Like Moses at the well after his first attempt at ministry. At least I didn't kill the guy and bury him in the sand. But I am encouraged that at the well, Moses looked to do good by running off some naughty shepherds.

What I am waiting for: The birth of my daughter Karis- due yesterday, Heidi is to be induced Tuesday. Also a call from a church to come be their pastor.

What I am learning: God is not on my timetable. It took 430 years for God to get Israel to where He wanted them before calling Moses there to free them, get ticked off, strike the rock and miss out on entering the promised land.

God is good.

From the brook Cherith

2009-05-22T14:43:00.002-04:00

"Every servant that God deigns to use must pass through the trying experience of Cherith before he is ready for the triumph of Carmel. This is an unchanging principle in the ways of God." - AW Pink in his book on Elijah

See this to be true in:
Joseph
Moses
David
Paul
and Jesus Christ.

New Journey

2009-03-28T08:18:00.002-04:00

For those interested, I have resigned my pastorate of Vanderbilt Community Church.
Tomorrow will be my last Sunday.

We are moving all of our stuff down to Mt. Pleasant and then going down to Texas for some R&R.

I don't know what the future holds, we are considering all of our options. One of them is for me to enter into the military as an officer.

We appreciate your prayers.

What is right?

2009-03-26T10:02:00.001-04:00

"Eve trusted in her own evaluation of what was right and what would be good for her, rather than to allow God's word to define right and wrong. " Wayne Grudem

The only thing we learn from history is that we don't learn from history. - unknown

"I do think it necessary in these times to remind my readers that a man may commit sin and yet be ignorant of it and fancy himself innocent when he is guilty. I fail to see any scriptural warrant for the modern assertion that: "Sin is not sin to us until we discern it and are conscious of it." On the contrary, in the fourth and fifth chapters of that unduly neglected book, Leviticus, and in the fifteenth of Numbers, I find Israel distinctly taught that there were sins of ignorance which rendered people unclean and needed atonement (Lev. 4:1–35; 5:14–19; Num. 15:25–29). And I find our Lord expressly teaching that "the servant who knew not his master’s will and did it not," was not excused on account of his ignorance but was "beaten" or punished (Luke 12:48). We will do well to remember that, when we make our own miserably imperfect knowledge and consciousness the measure of our sinfulness, we are on very dangerous ground. A deeper study of Leviticus might do us much good." - JC RYLE

Amen

2009-03-22T09:35:00.002-04:00

2009-03-20T17:58:00.000-04:00

boldness in the preacher is the willingness and ability to be clear in the face of fear" (Wagner, Tongues Aflame, p. 42).

God Sized Task

2009-03-16T21:55:00.000-04:00

Some people say, "God will never ask me to do something I can't do." I have come to the place in my life that, if the assignment I sense God is giving me is something I know I can handle, I know it probably isn't from God. The assignments God gives in the Bible are always God sized. They are always beyond what people can do, because He wants to demonstrate His nature, His strength, His provision, and His kindness to His people and a watching world. That is the only way the world will come to know Him. - Henry Blackaby

Why Piper is a Prophet

2009-03-12T13:37:00.000-04:00

From his sermon on What is the Recession for

"The book of Job in the Old Testament begins, “There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job, and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil” (Job 1:1). But in the last chapter of the book, Job says, “I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:6). He was “blameless,” but later he repented. What does that mean?
It means that the most godly people in the world are like a clear glass of water with a sediment of sin hidden at the bottom of the glass. And when the glass is struck—with Job’s suffering, or with our recession—the sediment of sin is stirred up and exposed, and the water becomes cloudy. That’s one of the things that recessions are for. "

Evanjellyfishm

2009-03-11T21:20:00.000-04:00

We should remember that it didn't bum Gideon out when the Lord got him down to three hundred men. Part of the plan, as it turned out."

Quote from a great post by Douglas Wilson

Prophetic Word of the Day

2009-03-11T10:32:00.001-04:00

Judges 17:6
In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

"With the Bible as our only infallible authority for every aspect of faith and life, we must stand on the truth and for the truth with uncompromising commitment to the truth and unwavering compassion for those who hate the truth, deny the truth, and use the only infallible authority for truth to defend their lies. By God’s grace, we have been called out of darkness in order to stand in His marvelous light so that we might boldly go into the darkness of this world as a light to the world, proclaiming the way, the truth, and the life before the face of God, coram Deo, and before the faces of our enemies. But in doing so, we must not in practice deny our allegiance to the authority of the Word of God by saying we believe it while continuing to live according to what is right in our own eyes."

Burk Parsons is editor of Tabletalk magazine and minister of congregational life at Saint Andrew’s Chapel in Sanford, Florida, and is editor of the book John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine, & Doxology.

The Doctrine of the Last Things

2009-03-08T16:07:00.000-04:00

The Bible teaches us that this age will come to an end and that the Lord Jesus Christ will return personally, visibly and bodily to judge all mankind. Those who by God’s grace believe in Him and have served Him will be ushered into His everlasting presence to rejoice in His glory with unspeakable joy. All all who have rejected God’s Son in unbelief and preferred a life of sin over the service of God, however, will be separated from God’s favor forever in hell. There they will suffer unspeakable and eternal agony, being the object of God’s just wrath upon sin (Matt. 25:31–46; Mark 13:26, 27; 2 Cor. 5:10; 2 Thess. 1:8–10; 2 Tim. 4:1, Rev. 20:11–12).

The Doctrine of the Church

2009-03-07T16:06:00.000-05:00

The Bible teaches that the Holy Spirit, being a God of order, unites all those whom He saves into a body of believers called the church. It is within the context of the church that He causes His Word to be preached by men whom He has specifically called and qualified for this task. By means of the preaching of His Word, God is pleased to regenerate spiritually dead sinners and bestow upon them the gift of saving faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He also uses the preaching of the Word to strengthen the faith of His people, causing them to grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus the church is the place where God dwells in the midst of His people by means of His Word and Spirit. It is where His people worship God, receive spiritual nourishment from His Word, serve Him, and have fellowship with Him (Psalm 122; 132:13–18; Psalm 133; Acts 2:47; Heb. 10:24-25).

The Doctrine of Salvation

2009-03-06T16:06:00.000-05:00

The Bible teaches that the will of sinful man is entirely opposed to God’s will and that therefore man of his own volition will never seek reconciliation with God. That is why the work of the Holy Spirit is indispensable in the salvation of sinners. He alone can convince man of his sin and his need of Christ; He alone can cause man to surrender to God and work faith in Christ for salvation; He alone can preserve this salvation by dwelling in sinners. Since the salvation of sinners is the result of God’s eternal initiative, God, by His Spirit, will effectively conquer the hearts of sinners and thus save His people from their sins (John 1:12, 13; 6:63a; 16:7-15; Gal. 1:15, 16a; Phil. 1:6; 2:13).

The Doctrine of Christ

2009-03-05T16:05:00.000-05:00

The Bible reveals God’s remedy to bring about reconciliation between an offended God and sinful man. He gave His only begotten and eternal Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Being very God and very man, Jesus Christ possesses the perfect qualities to be the supreme Mediator between God and man. By His perfect obedience to the law of God as well as His total surrender to the punishment due to sin, He quenched the wrath of God and met all the requirements of God’s justice by His death on Calvary’s cross. As evidence of His Father’s approval of His work as Mediator, Jesus arose from the dead and returned to the presence of His Father in heaven as the victorious and exalted Mediator. He has thereby fully opened the way for the relationship between God and man, broken by sin, to be completely restored (2 Cor. 5:17–21; 1 Tim. 2:5; Gal. 4:4–5; Rom. 5:1).

Trinity, Incarnation...Meaning

2009-03-05T10:23:00.001-05:00

Should Christians use all of those terms, or is that bringing in Greek philosophical language and non-biblical baggage to complicate what would be much easier without them?

Well, Calvin says we can use them. He says, “We need not confine ourselves to the exact words of the Bible.” As Warfield puts it, “For Calvin,

the sense of Scripture, and not the words of Scripture, is Scripture.”

That might seem heretical at first. Calvin holds to plenary verbal inspiration as I said earlier. However, you can take the words of Scripture and develop all kinds of heresies like the Jehovah’s Witnesses do. They quote Scripture. They use the words of Scripture. But, it is the sense of Scripture that is Scripture, not the isolated words of Scripture. Another way to say it is that it is all of Scripture that is Scripture, not one text alone. So, Calvin comes to embrace the use of these technical terms. He says, “Avoidance of this traditional language may indicate a secret poison.”

Calvin’s Institutes Lesson 4, Page 7 © Fall 2005, David Calhoun & Covenant Theological Seminary

The Doctrine of Man

2009-03-04T16:04:00.000-05:00

The Bible provides us with God’s view of man. It reveals to us that, at the beginning of time, God created man in the image of His eternal Son (Rom. 8:29), namely, with perfect knowledge, righteousness and holiness. The chief purpose of man’s creation and existence was to give glory to God with his entire being. Tragically, however, man rebelled against God and became a sinner, no longer answering the purpose for which he was created. Ever since man turned away from God, he is separated from God (spiritually dead), has a will entirely opposed to God, is the object of the wrath of God, and is unwilling and unable to be saved and restored to a right relationship with God (Gen. 1:27; Isa. 43:7b, 21; Eccl. 7:29; Rom. 8:7; 3:10, 11).

6 Major Divisions of Reformed Theology

2009-03-03T16:02:00.000-05:00

A Doctrinal Summary of the Six Major Divisions of Reformed Theology
Bartel Elshout

The Doctrine of God
The Bible is, in the first place, God’s revelation of Himself and of His will. It reveals that the Creator of the Universe, who is the primary Author of the Bible, is a Triune God and eternally exists in three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three Persons are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory (John 1:1; 2 Tim. 3:16–17; 1 John 5:7; 2 Cor. 13:14). It is especially in the Person of the Son, who is the Living Word of God (John 1:1), that the Father has revealed Himself to man (John 1:18; Heb. 1:1-3), and it is the explicit work of the Holy Spirit to glorify the Son (John 16:14).

If God came to me like He did Solomon and gave me one wish...

2009-03-02T15:09:00.002-05:00

Here is what I think I would ask for:

Taken from Ligon Duncan

My local congregation would be characterized by a Gospel culture, a Gospel-sharing culture, a culture of evangelism.

By that I mean:

[1] that my whole congregation would be able to articulate the Gospel, personally, in a compelling and understandable way;
[2] that my whole congregation would understand the importance and necessity of their lives, their prayers and their participation in Gospel witness;
[3] that my whole congregation would deeply care about conversions (and I would lay stress here, that we are talking about real conversions, not numbers; disciples, not decisions; changed lives, not merely prayed prayers);
[4] that my whole congregation would earnestly and regularly pray for conversions, talks about their own conversions and the conversions of others, and put a priority on people coming to know God; and
[5] that my whole congregation would be excited about the Gospel itself, and not simply about a method of sharing the Gospel, or a training program.

Is that more than one wish?

Why I love hearing about the wrath of God

2009-02-27T14:44:00.001-05:00

1. Because I have a hard heart and I need to be reminded how much God hates sin so I will deal with my sin and repent. (1 Cor 11)

2. "Even though we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind, (Eph. 2:23) we now hat trusted in Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 1 Thess. 1:10" -Grudem

3. Why will anyone think they need to be "Saved" if they do not see they rest under the wrath of God.

4. When we meditate on the wrath of God, we will be amazed to think that our Lord Jesus Christ bore the wrath of God that was due to our sin, in order that we might be saved. Rom 3:25-26 - Grudem

5. God's wrath should motivate us to evangelism and should also cause us to be thankful that God finally will punish all wrongdoing and will reign over a new heaven and earth in which there will be no unrighteousness.

To Bill Maher, and everyone else who has a God of their own imagination

2009-02-26T14:33:00.000-05:00

The Almighty Jehovah has a question for you who find what God is doing to be unfair:

Job 40:2 "Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it."

Job 40:8 Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?

Set a watch O Lord before my mouth

2009-02-25T16:20:00.001-05:00

Great post over at Church Matters Blog on the use of humor and moreover, the use of the fiery tongue. Here are Jonathan Edward's views. May we all take stock of how we wield that squishy sword set on fire of hell:

16. Resolved, never to speak evil of anyone, so that it shall tend to his dishonor, more or less, upon no account except for some real good.
31. Resolved, never to say any thing at all against any body, but when it is perfectly agreeable to the highest degree of Christian honor, and of love to mankind, agreeable to the lowest humility, and sense of my own faults and failings, and agreeable to the golden rule; often, when I have said anything against anyone, to bring it to, and try it strictly by the test of this Resolution.
34. Resolved, in narrations never to speak any thing but the pure and simple verity.
36. Resolved, never to speak evil of any, except I have some particular good call for it. Dec. 19, 1722.
38. Resolved, never to speak anything that is ridiculous, sportive, or matter of laughter on the Lord' s day. Sabbath evening, Dec. 23, 1722. [I personally think its OK to laugh on the Lord's day, but Edwards opinion is clear here, isn't it?]
70. Let there be something of benevolence, in all that I speak. August 17, 1723.

Come on 7's

2009-02-25T14:03:00.004-05:00

A man prayed to God in the checkout counter at the local gas station. His wallet contained his last twenty three dollars until pay day. Twenty of it he had committed to the Lord for his tithe and the other three he was buying a gallon of milk with for his family. He plopped down the twenty on the counter and bought four, $5 Lotto tickets.

"God, If you let me win 1 million dollars, I will give half of it to you." he prayed as he walked out the door with his milk and tickets.

"I have someone who will give me ALL of it." came the reply from God as the man tripped over his own feet looking at the tickets. Almost as if in slow motion, the gallon of milk exploded onto the concrete floor.

Haggai 1:9 You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of my house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house.

Membership Schmembership

2009-02-24T12:56:00.003-05:00

The following is an excerpt from Bethlehem Baptist Church. I do not agree with all of their conclusions, practices and beliefs- thus the greatness of the Independence of a local body of believers, but I do believe the points being made here concerning church membership are accurate. The task becomes coming up with a church covenant that can be agreed to and people are held accountable to what it says by the church.

Is Church Membership Taught in the New Testament?

Membership in a local church involves commitment to worship the Lord corporately, edifying brothers and sisters through mutual exhortation and service, cooperating in mission, and holding each other accountable to walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord as a witness to the truth of Christ in the world.
We believe that covenant church membership is a wise and helpful path for those who desire to walk together in obedience to the Lord and in a manner that is worthy of the gospel of Christ (Philippians 1:27). This becomes evident when we consider how the New Testament teaching on church government and church discipline relate to mutual accountability and thus to the concept of covenant membership.
The New Testament teaching about church government and church discipline would be meaningless if some form of commitment to mutual accountability in a body of believers were not expected.

Church Government Implies a Membership of Accountability
The New Testament teaches that the local church has elders or overseers who have special responsibility to equip (Ephesians 4:11) and care for (Acts 20:28) and teach (1 Timothy 3:2; Titus 1:9) the members. The New Testament teaches that the members are to respect (1 Thess 5:12f.) and be submissive to (Hebrews 13:17) these leaders, but not to treat them as infallible (1 Timothy 5:20) or in the place of Christ (Matthew 23:8-12). They are servants, not masters (Luke 22:26), and their leadership comes from their divine call to serve (Acts 20:28), not from their desire to rule. Their leadership does not replace the congregation of believers as the body with final authority under the Lord (Matthew 18:17; 1 Corinthians 5:4; Acts 6:3; 15:22).

This whole picture of called leaders, and people who affirm that leadership, assumes the existence of “church membership” that consists in a corporate life of mutual accountability. Leadership and submission have no meaning where there is no commitment to accountability (that is, to membership).

Church Discipline Implies a Membership of Accountability
Jesus said, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector” (Matthew 18:15-17).
What this implies is that Christians are to be members of churches where they are held accountable to walk in a way that pleases the Lord. If there were no relationship of accountability, it would be meaningless to “tell it to the church,” because the offending person would simply say, “That church has no jurisdiction over me.”
The same thing is implied in 1 Corinthians 5. A man in the church is living in blatant immorality and is proudly unrepentant (v. 2). Paul writes, “Let him who has done this be removed from among you” (v. 2). He goes on to say, “When you are assembled . . . you are to deliver this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (vv. 4-5).
None of this would be feasible if the immoral man could simply say, “I am not accountable to you. I can do what I please. You have no authority or rights over me.” In other words, the teaching of the New Testament on church discipline implies that church membership (involving mutual accountability among the members) is the will of God for all Christians.

The Church Covenant
The biblical call for a membership of mutual accountability in a local body of believers suggests the need for believers to make a covenant with one another. This is simply implied in agreeing to hold each other accountable to walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord.
The church covenant is a written summary of biblical practice that a church agrees should be the basis of its accountability. The covenant allows for freedom of conscience in areas where the Bible is not definite in its guidance. The covenant focuses on principles, especially as they relate to our corporate life together.

Response to question from previous post about House Churches

2009-02-19T12:18:00.002-05:00

Hey brother,
The church is in the condition that it is because we no longer understand, believe in, or require the new birth. (John 3)

When God saves people, He does it to conform them to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29)

When His true children rebel, he will chasten them, not allowing wickedness to continue. Hebrews 12:6, 1 Cor 11:29-30

But churches want to follow the American model of success: Numbers, money, programs, etc.
So they compromise on requiring members to be born again.

I believe most pastors are unregenerate. They are like Nicodemus, teachers in Israel and don't know these things.

House churches: Spoken of in Scripture, I believe they can be good or bad. A church of the Lord Jesus Christ is a place where the gospel is rightly preached and heard, the ordinances are rightly practiced and church discipline takes place. I would agree with your friend Martin Luther and the Augsburg Confession on that. (Although we would disagree on his practice of baptism - which I would say fosters the idea that people are saved without the new birth, but that is for another discussion)

May the Lord bless him, if this is what God is calling him to do. There are times when you must leave your church, however if this man doesn't understand/have the new birth - his house church will quickly fill up with unregenerate people and repeat the mess we have now in American churches as they seek to build a building, grow and have music and programs that will appeal to unregenerate people.

Sounds Good...So long as you're done by noon

2009-02-16T16:25:00.001-05:00

From Joel Beeke

Our English word worship is derived from the word worth. Worship is really “worthship” and reminds us that God is worthy of receiving our praise and honor. Consequently, godly sobriety dominates worship in the HRC out of deep reverence for God and His holy congregation. We see ourselves as guests in His house, praying that we will worship and exalt Him in a pure, unalloyed manner, supremely for His glory, and will remember that true worship is what God enjoys and commands and has a right to expect. Our worship must be corporate, Christ-exalting, and celebrative; above all else, it must be thoroughly Biblical. This “regulative principle of worship,” requiring that every part of worship must be grounded in Scripture, is assiduously adhered to as the only principle that can withstand today’s sweeping tide of false forms of unbiblical, shallow, worldly, informal, and innovative human worship. Everything in divine worship must be warranted by Scripture. We believe that in worship we enter into a dialogue with God whereby we humbly bring our adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and supplications to Him. We do that through prayers, congregational singing of the Psalms, offerings, and benedictions, which take up half of a typical worship service. The other half of our service is devoted to the reading of Scripture and preaching the whole counsel of God’s Word—both law and gospel, both death in Adam and life in Christ, both divine sovereignty and human responsibility. Through the reading and preaching of His Word, God speaks to us, instructing, strengthening, equipping, chastising, and warning us for our good. We strive to ensure that all the Biblical aspects of worship are included in our services: proclamation and learning of truth, adoration, repentance, intercession, dedication and thanksgiving.
We believe that it is critical for the preacher to conduct the service with the consciousness that he is in the presence of Almighty God. All self- or man-centeredness, casual demeanor, chatty and superfluous comments must be avoided in public worship when in the presence of the King of kings. Reflective of the church’s calling, preaching must be Biblical, doctrinal, experiential and practical.

John the Baptist Confronts Herod

2009-01-28T11:22:00.000-05:00

Thoughts Anyone? (Arthur?)

2009-01-28T11:09:00.001-05:00

RE: Membership
by Greg Gilbert

On Thabiti's note, I really don't understand how some Christians can object to the idea of church membership. I mean, Paul uses the word in Scripture. It's not like we have to deduce the idea from vague emanations and penumbras.
1 Corinthians 12:27: "Now you are the body of Christ, and individually members of it."
I know that's a metaphor, but that's also the point---The metaphor Paul uses here is precisely where we get the idea of membership. The word "melos" means "integral part, member." I think sometimes people have the impression that the church stole the idea of membership from Columbia Records or something. Not so. In fact, Columbia Records, the Rotary Club, the Lions' Club, and all the rest stole it from us!
I've never seen this connection drawn explicitly (have you?---please let me know), but Paul's not the first to use the word "melos" in this way. The idea of the "body politic," and the "members" who made it up, was common and deep in Greek and Roman culture. And the Greeks and Romans knew exactly who was a member of that body politic and who wasn't---who could vote and who couldn't, who could be whipped publicly and who couldn't, who could be crucified and who couldn't. Seems to me that under the Spirit's inspiration, Paul is drawing on that same idea of the body politic and now applying it to the church. If so, then that would mean that he's deliberately drawing what would have been a very familiar picture of a well-defined body which has members and non-members, those who are in and those who are out.
So we don't need to find examples of lists in the New Testament to make the case for a well-defined membership. If we give the idea of the body and its members all the meaning it would have had for any Greek-speaking Roman, seems to me that's a pretty strong case in itself.

This Made Me Think of My Two Youngest Boys

2009-01-22T15:23:00.002-05:00

Teddy Roosevelt was asked why he allowed his daughter Alice to run wild. He said,

"I can either attend to Alice or be President of the United States."

And that's about all I have to say about that

2009-01-21T18:16:00.001-05:00

A book review

2009-01-14T10:24:00.007-05:00

Title: A Journey in Grace (A Theological Novel)
Author: Richard P. Belcher
Publisher: http://richbarrypress.com/
Year: 3rd Edition 2006
ISBN: 0-925703-11-7 Binding: Softcover
Pages: 240
Reading Level: 2.0
Price: $10.99

Reviewer: Joseph D. VonDoloski

This book takes the reader on a journey. The young pastor finds himself confronted with the accusing question at his interview, "Young man, are you a Calvinist?" Having never heard the term before, he answers, "No!" as he can tell by the scowls and grimaces on the face of the pulpit committee that no self respecting Christian would ever be one of those.

He then begins a journey to find out what a Calvinist is. He looks at history, the Scriptures and sees what genuine historic Calvinism is. All along the way, he deals with all sorts of issues in the Seminary he is attending as well as problems that attend pastoring a church.

Many pastors and church members will immediately identify with the various situations that arise and the strength of the book is demonstrating how doctrine affects practice in the local church. This is a very readable book and a fabulous introduction to anyone seeking an unbiased approach to discovering what Calvinism is.

There are a series of "Journey" novels like this one on the web site where he deals with many of the subjects facing the church today that cause problems and splits from the same inductive approach. Pick this book up if you want an enjoyable read that also gives a balanced explanation of biblical Calvinism.

A Prophetic Word

2008-12-04T12:15:00.002-05:00

The following is a letter written by my younger brother to my older brother serving in Korea. It is one of the most profound things I have read in a long time, I trust you will be blessed by it concerning your own situation as much as I have been.

Dave,

I don't anticipate being able to have a 45 minute discussion with someone on a street corner to explain the gospel. However, it is essential to have intimate familiarity with the different aspects of the gospel to give them a condensed answer to their specific need. If you look at how Christ did personal evangelism He didn't deal with all of these aspects in one conversation. Nicodemus needed to be born again. The Samaritan woman needed to know who the Messiah was. The woman taken in adultery didn't need an exposition of the law she needed to understand forgiveness. There is no cookie cutter approach to sharing the gospel. That is why the Romans road or other such programs are sadly deficient. Not only because they don't deal with specifics but also because the one witnessing never gains an understanding beyond it.

The other issue, is that we have people that are faithful coming to church who are yet in their sins. To them, I believe a comprehensive study of the gospel will help to break through their self righteousness and shallow understanding to acknowledge the glory of the gospel. With these people there needs to be deep plowing and planting of the seed. Many times we overlook those right under our nose.

With that said. I believe the primary focus that you need to have is to evangelize your children. It is obvious from your statements that there is nothing you would rather do than to be able to evangelize on a broader scope. Which is why God hasn't opened that door. If He were to open that door you would evangelize to the neglect of your children and wife. I say this because I acknowledge it in my own life. I have 7 children that need constant attention and to seize the day while the window of opportunity is still open. He which is faithful in least will be faithful in much. Be faithful to take the opportunities that God has given you with your children and He will open further opportunities.

Let's assume that God saves your wife and children. How easy would it be as a family to be able to bring other families into your home and evangelize them? Imagine trying to do that with an unconverted wife and unruly children. First things first. Obviously, these are things that I believe God has revealed to me personally. God is more concerned about you than He is about anything that you are going to do for Him. Consider the affect of having converted children who will know how to evangelize your grandchildren. That is our circle of influence at the present.

You have a full plate and I believe it is a tactic of the devil to make us feel guilty about only doing our responsibility. (Paul) Washer had a great sermon on this several months ago. Be content to be ordinary. Glorifying God as a husband, father, employee and not always looking for the extraordinary. I believe that God has put all three of us in situations where we can excel. We need to seize the day and not waste it chasing some dream. True revival is when God turns the hearts of the fathers to the children.

John

PRAY WITHOUT CEASING

2008-11-25T12:08:00.001-05:00

"The one concern of the devil is to keep the saints from prayer. He fears nothing from prayerless studies, prayerless work, prayerless religion. He laughs at our toil, mocks at our wisdom, but trembles when we pray." -Jonathan Edwards 18th Century Preacher

It Was Only a Matter of Time

2008-11-24T17:02:00.001-05:00

I have always wanted to perform music and have people buy it.

Now this is a reality.

I was at this conference so one of the 5,000 voices is mine.

I was singing really loud too (except for when I was weeping)

I just need to check with SGM about my royalty check.

Great Post on Procrastination

2008-11-22T12:35:00.000-05:00

"No unwelcome tasks become any the less unwelcome by putting them off till tomorrow. It is only when they are behind us and done, that we begin to find that there is a sweetness to be tasted afterwards, and that the remembrance of unwelcome duties unhesitatingly done is welcome and pleasant. Accomplished, they are full of blessing, and there is a smile on their faces as they leave us. Undone, they stand threatening and disturbing our tranquility, and hindering our communion with God. If there be lying before you any bit of work from which you shrink, go straight up to it, and do it at once. The only way to get rid of it is to do it."

-Alexander MacLaren (1826–1910), Scottish preacher

Here is the link

Mr Pink with a word of encouragement

2008-11-21T16:04:00.001-05:00

If the minister of the Gospel be occupied with the smallness of his congregation, and their unresponsiveness to his preaching; if he dwell unduly upon the lack of interest on the part of the young people, and listens to the prophets of gloom, who ever give the darkest possible interpretation to things, then he may well be dejected. But if his thoughts be formed by and his own soul fed upon the Word of God, then he will discover that there is no cause whatever for dismay. Scripture nowhere teaches that God is seeking to convert the world, rather does it declare that He is visiting the Gentiles "to take out of them a people for His name" (Acts 15:14). When giving instructions to His servants, Christ bade them "take no anxious thought," for He would have their hearts at rest, trusting, in the living God to supply their every need; and also said "Fear not little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:22, 32). He ever sought to strengthen their confidence in the invincibility of God’s purpose, declaring "all that the Father giveth Me, shall come unto Me" (John 6:37).

Instead of perplexing his mind with useless speculations about the ten toes of Daniel’s colossus, the business of the minister of the Gospel is to faithfully carry out the commission which he has received from his Master (Matthew 38:19, 20). Instead of wasting time upon the newspapers and listening in to the wireless in order to ascertain the latest threats of the Kremlin or menaces of the Vatican, let him give more earnest heed to that injunction "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15). Instead of being so absorbed with the activities of Satan’s emissaries, let him mix faith with that heartening assurance of the Most High, "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: so shall My Word be that goeth forth out of My mouth: it shall not return unto Me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper whereto I sent it" (Isa. 55:10, 11).

The Word of God is not outdated: "heaven and earth shall pass away but My words shall not pass away" (Matthew 24:35). Then preach that Word in its purity, in its fullness, with implicit confidence in its sufficiency. The Gospel of Christ is not obsolete, but is still "the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth" (Rom. 1:16). Then proclaim it, realizing that the curse of God rests on all who preach any other (Gal. 1:8). Do you reply, I have, in my poor way, sought to preach the Gospel as faithfully and earnestly as I know how: but so far as I can see, it has been fruitless, and I am thoroughly discouraged. Then take heed, we beg you, to the incident which is here before us. Get down on your knees right now and beg God to bless this article unto you. Fervently implore Him to open your heart to receive the same. Ponder afresh those words "by faith the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days" (Heb. 11:30). Surely then "all things are possible to him that believeth" (Mark 9:23)!

It requires no forced or fanciful effort of ours to show that Israel’s conquest of Jericho adumbrated the victories won by the Gospel, when it is faithfully preached and the blessing of God attends the same. As was pointed out in our last, Jericho was one of the leading strongholds of the enemy: "the cities are walled and very great" (Num. 13:28). Probably Jericho was the most powerfully fortified of any of them, and as such it presented a formidable obstacle unto Joshua and his fellows. Nevertheless, it fell before them in response to the punctual observance of the orders which they had received from the Lord. It was in manifest reference to this that the apostle declared, "For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds" (1 Cor. 10:4). How blessedly and unmistakably was that demonstrated under his own ministry! How gloriously was the same made evident in the days of Luther! How frequently has the same truth been made to appear in various parts of the earth since then. And you, my brethren in the ministry, have the same glorious Gospel to preach, and the same mighty God to look unto to bless your labors!

Brothers, We are Not Professionals

2008-11-18T12:11:00.002-05:00

"Many people are willing to be God-centered as long as they feel that God is man-centered." -Piper

We see this in phrases like, "I couldn't worship a God like that."

Isaiah 40:15,17
Behold, the nations are as a drop in a bucket,
And are counted as the small dust on the scales;
Look, He lifts up the isles as a very little thing.

17 All nations before Him are as nothing,
And they are counted by Him less than nothing and worthless.

But what about free will and self esteem?

Better than the "Romans Road"

2008-11-16T08:54:00.001-05:00

Matthew 8:1-22 When He had come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him. 2 And behold, a leper came and worshiped Him, saying, "Lord, if You are willing, You can make me clean." 3 Then Jesus put out His hand and touched him, saying, "I am willing; be cleansed." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed. 4 And Jesus said to him, "See that you tell no one; but go your way, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them." 5 Now when Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to Him, pleading with Him, 6 saying, "Lord, my servant is lying at home paralyzed, dreadfully tormented." 7 And Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him." 8 The centurion answered and said, "Lord, I am not worthy that You should come under my roof. But only speak a word, and my servant will be healed. 9 For I also am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and to another, 'Come,' and he comes; and to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it." 10 When Jesus heard it, He marveled, and said to those who followed, "Assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! 11 And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." 13 Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way; and as you have believed, so let it be done for you." And his servant was healed that same hour. 14 Now when Jesus had come into Peter's house, He saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever. 15 So He touched her hand, and the fever left her. And she arose and served them. 16 When evening had come, they brought to Him many who were demon-possessed. And He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick, 17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Isaiah the prophet, saying: "HE HIMSELF TOOK OUR INFIRMITIES AND BORE OUR SICKNESSES." 18 And when Jesus saw great multitudes about Him, He gave a command to depart to the other side. 19 Then a certain scribe came and said to Him, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go." 20 And Jesus said to him, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." 21 Then another of His disciples said to Him, "Lord, let me first go and bury my father." 22 But Jesus said to him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead."

Do You Want Revival?

2008-11-11T11:11:00.003-05:00

Matthew 8:28-34 And when he came to the other side, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon-possessed men met him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. 29 And behold, they cried out, "What have you to do with us, O Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?" 30 Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them. 31 And the demons begged him, saying, "If you cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs." 32 And he said to them, "Go." So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.
33 The herdsmen fled, and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men.

34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.

Matt. 13:58 And he did not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.

A Study in the Art of Hind End Discovery

2008-11-10T15:42:00.003-05:00

I have no muse lately. No motivation to write the nothing I have to write... I haven't even produced a church newsletter in the last 2 months - call it writers block maybe? It's more than that- maybe it's a shift. I have thought about shutting the blog down. An internet fast even. Charter bill just went up 10$ a month. Do I need internet in a pastor's study? How did Spurgeon get on without Sermon Audio, and Fox news?

But you came to this site to get something. Why do you come? For Bible, Humor? I used to go to one guy's site just to see a train wreck in blogtion.

Doug Wilson seems to say things I wish I would have said and wish I could have said. I seriously looked into moving out there at one time.

" The Republican Party is corrupt. The Democratic Party is corrupt. And so why not go with the third party option, as with the Constitution Party? The problem is that there is no such thing as the Constitution Party. The Constitution Party today is split, splintered and fractured over issues like the participation of Mormons, and even some wavering on the life issue in at least one state organization. The basic problem is individualism and a resultant political sectarianism playing out in the civil realm. We cannot get anything right in the political sphere until we get it right in the Church first. When we get it right in the Church, other areas will follow. (emphasis mine) When Christians are worshipping God rightly, in spirit and in truth, we will then be in a position to reform an existing party, or establish a new one. Until then, we will continue to have trouble locating our own rear end, even if allowed to use both hands."

1Pe 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Priorities of the Average American

2008-11-07T15:58:00.001-05:00

CHICAGO -- President-elect Obama says getting a dog for his two daughters when the family moves into the White House in January is "a major issue."

Obama told reporters Friday that his mention on election night of getting a puppy for Sasha and Malia had "generated more interest on his Web site than any other topic."

Play the fiddle while Rome burns people.

Serenity now, serenity now...

He Always Says it Better than I Do

2008-11-07T14:52:00.001-05:00

Ten Things to Keep in Mind After the Election by Doug Wilson

I write at the very beginning of election day, not knowing the outcome. These are things that we should remember regardless, and they will be applicable regardless.
1. God is still Father, Christ is still at His right hand, and the Holy Spirit is still abroad in the world, recreating that world according to the image of Christ. When the nations conspire against Him, He laughs at them.
2. The most important thing we can do for our nation, and for the world around us, is to gather for worship every Lord's Day. The privilege of voting in presidential elections comes to us every four years, while we are graced with the opportunity to take the Lord's Supper week to week. Right worship reforms the Church, and is therefore God's central instrument for remaking the world. For this reason, we must insist on worship that is in accordance with Scripture. Judgment begins with the household of God. Our generation is fatherless. In the power of the Spirit, in the name of the Son, we must therefore worship the Father.
3. The first and greatest command is to love God, and the second is to love our neighbor. When the question arises, as it will, as to who is our neighbor, a good policy is to always begin with the smallest, the least, the most defenseless. Never apologize for a crawl-over-broken-glass pro-life stance. Live in such a life-affirming way as to expect apologies from those who would redefine the lives of others (always the lives of others, isn't it?) into expendible insignificance.
4. Honor women. Honor your mother, your wife, and your daughters. We live in a culture that despises women, and which has engineered a vast machinery of propaganda designed to get them to surrender to it. If you don't know how to honor, on a day-to-day basis, the women in your life, then learn. Make it a priority.
5. Don't doubt in the dark what you knew in the light. The late Francis Schaeffer taught evangelical Christians to think like Christians as they engaged with unbelief in the public square. But a goodly number of his proteges, disciples, and name-appropriators have begun to "engage with the culture" in a way that looks more like going native than it looks like missionary work. Melancthons fall apart more rapidly than they used to. Get used to it, but don't you do it.
6. While pro-life work is at the very center of all mercy ministry, it should not be allowed to distract from the broader kind of mercy ministry that offers gospel help to those who have contributed to their own misery -- addicts, convicts, the uneducated and the unemployable. Such mercy ministry must be consistently tenderhearted and hardheaded. Sentimentalists are never able to give themselves away in the ongoing way that bleeding (but thinking) Christians must.
7. Learn something about economics. Please.
8. Cultivate a godly sense of proportion. My family, living in the UK, are encountering evangelical Christians who think that "lack of socialized medicine" is just as bad as abortion-on-demand, because in both cases people are dying. This is as wrong-headed as it is possible to get, even for evangelicals, and on two counts. In the first place, deliberate murder cannot be compared to well-intentioned negligence or incomptence. In the second place, to the extent that we do attack death-dealing incompetence -- as we must -- we must begin by attacking the species of incompetence that lets people die after many months on waiting lists because some people don't like accurate pricing mechanisms. Water won't run uphill just because you can arrange for three bishops to say "Trinitarian" or "incarnational" over it.
9. Count the cost. Freedom of expression is part of our Christian heritage, and one of the things we are fighting for is the right to that expression. We cannot lose the tree and keep the fruit of it. When the laws come, as they will, prohibiting (for example) condemnation of homosexual behavior, then count the cost. And the very next Sunday, start your sermon series on the sins of sodomy. The first message should provide the introduction, and allow the congregation to count the cost as well. They might want a heads up -- some of them might think it prudent to head over to a more docile church, one with a kennel-fed pastor. Whenever the state yanks on his lead, he always heels, and then waits expectantly for his treat. A much more sensitive and sensible ministry, don't you think?
10. Fight in the culture wars as those who gladly serve the triune God of heaven. We are not dogs fighting over a piece of meat, and we must never allow the surly or shrill attitudes of the self-righteous to creep into anything we do. We must be puritan cavaliers, and merry warriors. Fight like a regenerate D'Artagnan, and not like a thug with a Bible he stole from the motel, or a like prim and censorious Miss Grundy, she of the pursed lips. We are Christians, not wowswers.Posted by Douglas Wilson - 11/4/2008 9:57:27 AM Print this post

Obama wins

2008-11-05T16:05:00.002-05:00

I could honestly give two hoots about this election. I will lose no sleep about it.

This is what sickens me:

50 million babies aborted since the 70's in America.

And we just elected the Dr. Death of the Senate.

What troubles me is that America was OK with this as long as he fixes the economy and
brings wealth.

We are going to pay for this. You reap what you sow.

Political Quote

2008-10-30T14:50:00.001-04:00

"Giving more money to people when they fail and taking more money away from people when they work doesn't increase work."

Arthur Laffer, famous in economics and political circles for the "Laffer Curve". From his argument in the Wall Street Journal

Where I hope to send my boys to college

2008-10-29T19:36:00.001-04:00

http://www.desiringgod.org/Blog/1468_college_at_bethlehem_baptist_church/

Quote of the Day

2008-10-29T19:30:00.000-04:00

"There are men in the world whose respect for authority only shows up when they are in it."

Quote on the Church Matters, 9 Marks Website.

Mr. Singletary on Prima Donna's

2008-10-28T18:05:00.001-04:00

Vote with a clear Conscience

2008-10-24T14:30:00.003-04:00

Follow the link to read a great biblical perspective on voting HERE by John Piper.

For those who care, I am voting for Chuck Baldwin from the Constitution Party.

I was going to hold my nose and vote for McCain but I don't see how he is any better than what we have in the office now.

The Republicans held the entire government for years early in 2000.

What about abortion changed. It is time for overhaul.

Sermon Text for the Funeral of a False Prophet

2008-10-24T12:21:00.000-04:00

Jeremiah Chapters 7-8 With the key verse for the funeral sermon being 8:20

"The harvest is past,
the summer is ended,
and we are not saved!"

Classical Music for People who don't like Classical Music

2008-10-23T11:43:00.003-04:00

Would it seem strange to say that this music makes me want to be a better Christian? It makes me feel like I am tasting something for the first time and I want to eat more. Like I am getting a whiff of a wonderful aroma and wish I could put my nose right up to it and inhale fully.

Meditation

2008-10-22T13:18:00.003-04:00

My brothers and I have been talking about the desire to be the next Spurgeon, Whitefield etc. As I was pondering this, the thought came to me that we had better
desire to be used of God like these men were not to be successful and famous like these men were.

I immediately thought of Romans 9

God will be glorified in every man. Either he will glorify himself in men who are like Pharaoh who refuse to humble themselves and therefore God is glorified in destroying them.

Or he will glorify Himself in using ignorant and unlearned men to magnify His great worth in all the world. He used Moses of whom the Scripture says,
Num 12:3 Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.

and in another place:

Zep 2:3 Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, Who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden In the day of the Lord's anger.

The Reformation

2008-10-21T09:32:00.003-04:00

During the year 2009, the eyes of the world will turn to remember the birth anniversaries of the two most influential men of the last millennium — the 500th anniversary of the birth of John Calvin, and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. (It is also the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s The Origin of the Species.)
No two men in the past thousand years did more to shape the thoughts of mankind or to affect the political and social destiny of nations than Calvin and Darwin — the former for the glory of God, and the latter for unimaginable evil.

The modern world knows much of Darwin, but it has largely forgotten and forsaken the message of Sola Scriptura bequeathed to us by Calvin and his fellow Reformers. Many lost their lives to bring the world the message that Scripture must be applied to every sphere of life, including the family, the church, and the state.
President John Adams was so impressed by this legacy and its impact on America that he warned: “Let not Geneva be forgotten or despised. Religious liberty owes it much respect.”[1] Reformation historian J.H. Merle d’Aubigne wrote that “Calvin was the founder of the greatest of republics. The Pilgrims who left their country in the reign of James I, and, landing on the barren shores of New England, founded populous and mighty colonies, are his sons; and that American nation which we have seen growing so rapidly boasts as its father the humble reformer.”[2]
Even secular historians agree. Leopold von Ranke concluded that “John Calvin was virtually the founder of America,”[3] and George Bancroft wrote, “He that will not honor the memory, and respect the influence of Calvin, knows little of the origin of American liberty.”[4]

Let it suffice that Darwin — and the widespread acceptance of his Theory of Evolution as it has been applied to philosophy, science, economics, theology, and virtually every primary academic discipline — has sadly done more to undo the work of Calvin and the Reformers than any other philosophical influence.
As to legacies: Where Calvin taught the inadequacies of the fallen mind of man, the supremacy of the law of God, and the sufficiency of Holy Scripture, Darwin’s Theory led to the supremacy of man’s reason, the rejection of Scripture, and to widespread distrust in the Bible as an accurate record of Earth history. The children of Calvin and the Reformers gave us the rise of nation states that embraced Republican representative government. The children of Darwin gave us Marxism and totalitarianism. Calvin’s legacy included respect for life, a defense of the biblical family, and the rule of law under God. Darwin’s philosophical progeny introduced the world to the horrors of eugenics and legalized widespread abortion on demand. Where Calvin insisted that law was transcendent, being created by God for the good of man, the followers of Darwin would insist that laws evolve and that transcendent standards of morality do not even exist. The reforms of Calvin resulted in Christendom blossoming. Darwin foreshadowed the darkness of modernity.

In sum, the battles facing the Church today reflect the tension between the antithetical worldviews of these two men. This is why for the quincentenary of Calvin’s birthday it is critical that we become familiar with those Reformers who shared his presuppositions and who inaugurated what many believe to be the most spiritually mature season in the modern history of the Church. Their cry was “Semper Reformanda” (always reforming), and this must be our cry today.

By Doug Phillips over at Vision Forum

2008-10-20T15:36:00.002-04:00

The American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, Fourth Edition (DSM IV), defines oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) as a recurrent pattern of negativistic, defiant, disobedient, and hostile behavior toward authority figures that persists for at least 6 months. Behaviors included in the definition include the following: losing one's temper; arguing with adults; actively defying requests; refusing to follow rules; deliberately annoying other people; blaming others for one's own mistakes or misbehavior; and being touchy, easily annoyed or angered, resentful, spiteful, or vindictive.
This is the latest “disorder” facing our youth and school system today along with ADHD et.al that have “infected” our youth.

The supposed “cure” for them is the same as with any “disease” - which is medicine, typically the same drugs used for ADHD and providing family “therapy” for all family members to learn how to deal with the “disease.”
(side note: the word for witchcraft in the Bible is the Greek word, pharmakeia (from which we get the word Pharmacy)

Thayer Bible Dictionary Definition for the Greek word pharmakeia translated, "witchcraft"

1) the use or the administering of drugs
2) sorcery, magical arts, often found in connection with idolatry and fostered by it

I received a form of this “therapy” from a teacher who explained to me that what I was to do if the ODD should “flare up” was to immediately give the child options. “She needs to know that she is in control. So don’t make her do what you told her and instead give her different options.” "Once you realize that the disorder is real, it doesn’t make you feel so bad," she assured me.

I wish I were kidding. This is what we are doing to children in our country.

The Bible is not silent on this issue. Throughout Scripture, there are many men and women who demonstrated O.D.D Pharaoh, for one. Exo 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go.

Read through the book of Exodus to see how God “cured” him. He destroyed all the gods of the Egyptians including the firstborn child of all animals and people. Exo 10:2 And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.

Parents who live their lives in rebellion against God will have children who rebel against all authority as well. Our society is just like Pharaoh. “Who is the LORD, that I should obey His voice?” And so God is doing exactly what He did to Egypt- Destroying what we worship.

In America, one of our idols is our children. (Money is another and we see what God is doing to that) We spend Sunday playing soccer instead of going to a church where the Word of God is preached. Dad works on Sunday to buy his family more ‘stuff’ rather than worshipping the Lord in His house on His day. (See Exodus 16)

Mom’s go to work to get more money to buy more stuff.

The Bible instructs older women in Titus 2:4-5 to “teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.”

Parents today think spanking a child is a great evil. They “defy” God who says, Pro 23:14 Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.

If I had children that were never required to obey and never felt the loving but firm crack on their butt for disobedience, I would look forward to sending them to day care too. And what a bonanza it would be when the daycare became free. I.e public school. Listen to what God says about the wicked and tell me how the public school is not being described: (I am not saying there are not Christian teachers and students who are trying to be salt and light)

Psalms 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. Is God in all the thoughts of the public school? Do they acknowledge Him in history, Science, Math, Bible class, prayer, lunch, etc?

Pro 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.

And so a mom sits on the couch with another, consoling her as she gets the report back that “My son has ODD.” Like he just got leukemia.

The solution is not medication people.

The solution is to fear the Lord, repent, stop being Operationally Defiant to the Sovereign God of the univers and do what He commands us to do.
2Ch 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Understanding Scripture

2008-10-20T13:57:00.002-04:00

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the fact that the Jewish people misunderstood what Jesus was saying,

John 2:19-21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 21 But he spake of the temple of his body.

"Men often run into gross mistakes by understanding that literally which the scripture speaks figuratively. What abundance of mischief has been done by interpreting, This is my body, after a corporal and carnal manner! Had they known that this was he who built all things in six days they would not have made it such an absurdity that he should build a temple in three days."

Sign that Apocolypse is Now

2008-10-18T13:50:00.001-04:00

An Australian father-of-four collapsed and died at a rugby league game. The family is outraged that play was allowed to go on despite the tragedy.

Front-row forward Fred Lemson, 40, collapsed of a massive heart attack as he walked off at half-time during the Queensland Rugby League-sanctioned All Blacks Carnival in Townsville last Saturday.

"Why didn't they call it off?" his grieving brother Darren Lemson said Friday.

"This was not a broken leg. Somebody died on that field. But they just didn't give a damn."

Organizers held a minute's silence before allowing play to go on.

Nigerian Justice Needed in America

2008-10-18T10:32:00.000-04:00

A Nigerian father has taken his “lazy” 20-year-old son to an Islamic court for refusing to participate in productive activities, asking that he be imprisoned, the state news agency NAN said Friday, Reuters reported.

"He is not listening to words and he is bringing shame to my family,” Sama'ila Tahir, a market trader, told NAN. “I am tired of his nefarious deeds. Please put this boy in prison so that I can be free."

Tahir claims his son dropped out of school and is in a gang, Reuters reported.
Siding with Tahir, the court sentenced the young man to six months in prison and 30 strokes of the cane for being disobedient.

Advice for Young Ministers

2008-10-17T14:52:00.000-04:00

Mark Devers might be the smartest man I know of.

He has degrees from Cambridge and Oxford type places. Yale, Phd's etc.

But you know what the best thing I ever heard him say was?

Advice he gives to young pastors who want reformation and change brought out
in their churches,

"Preach, pray, persevere."

Thank you Mark.

Memorizing Scripture

2008-10-16T13:36:00.002-04:00

I wage war with my lazy self about memorizing Scripture. I don’t think any Christian would say they shouldn’t do it, but I know of very few who do.

Here is an outline of 1 Corinthians 1:1 as I study to memorize the book of 1 Cor.

1 Corinthians 1:1 Paul, called to be an apostle of Jesus Christ through the will of God, and Sosthenes our brother,

Paul, (small or little) - 1Co 15:9 For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

Called, Kletos – divinely selected and appointed, invited to a banquet

To be an apostle, apostolos – one sent forth with orders, messenger, he that is sent. Mat 28:20 teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." Amen.

Of, - cause, source, means, author

Jesus, Jehovah is salvation, savior of man, God incarnate

Christ, Chosen, anointed by God

Through, channel (by) means, by reason of, because of

The will, - What one wishes or has determined shall be done, commands, precepts

Of God,

and Sosthenes, (Savior of his nation)

our brother, adelphos – womb (brother)

2008-10-11T21:32:00.000-04:00

Charles Spurgeon, writing 150 years ago, nevertheless
speaks poignantly to the problem in the church today: “I
believe,” he asserted, “that one reason why the church of
God at this present moment has so little influence over the
world is because the world has so much influence over the
church."

No Home, No Ministry

2008-10-10T16:57:00.000-04:00

The following is my reply to my good friend in Texas who me some questions about the pastor having his home in order.

Can you expand on your statement " No home, no ministry" I have heard that before but I was wondering what you were meaning by it. How do you see the family in the life of a pastor? I have heard a pastor say that his children were a "blessing but also a burden". It is true that children do place burdens on our hearts at times but he said that because of the children that he could not serve the Lord the way he wanted. What are your thoughts on this?

The following was my response

1 Timothy 3:4-5 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?);

Titus 1:6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.

If your house is not in order, you need to set aside your ministry duties until it is. Perhaps this is why having paid pastors is such a danger. They can’t quit their ministry because often times, they have no ability or work ethic to succeed in the workplace. Not saying that pastors shouldn’t be paid, just more evidence for the need of a plurality of elders.

The pastor is to be an example to the congregation. He should be able to demonstrate that food is not his god (not fat). He should be a man of fasting not feasting. He should model how to train children in the way they should go. Luk 6:40 A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher. What parents do in moderation, children will do in excess. This requires that he spends time with them, modeling proper behavior in front of them and spending time with them raising them in the faith. If he is lazy or working all the time so that they set in front of video games and TV, and they spend countless hours with the neighbor kids, they will disqualify him from ministry. Evil communication corrupts good manners. If he doesn’t have a Christ honoring marriage, oh dear...

There is a ditch on both sides of the type of home God requires for elders:

A taskmaster will have children who grow up and can’t wait to get out of the house. His children will have anger issues. They can never please dad or do anything right. The girls will get a boyfriend very early, pregnant before marriage and get married to the first guy who shows any kind of interest. This elder will rule people too harshly in the church and run off any man with leadership potential because it threatens his authority.

In the other ditch is the sissy pants, he will have his wife running things. (and women running most of the church) His wife will be outspoken at all the congregational meetings and have a big mouth. That is why there are qualifications for the wives too. Children, esp. boys who grow up in homes where momma is the boss (in spiritual matters at least) will be rebellious and worldly. They will want to take the easy way out in matters like daddy does instead of being a man (quit ye like men, be strong) and disciplined in areas of godliness. The boys will tend to be very feminine or at least very lazy. (slobs)

Raising godly children and having a wife who knows her role and feels cherished takes astonishing amounts of time and discipline. That means husbands can’t be playboys in love with the world. They have to be devoted to their homes. The problem is not solved when
daddy is home but ‘not really home’. Dad home and working all the time, surfing the internet or just playing without his wife and kids might be even worse than if he were never home. His kids will want nothing to do with him and resent him.

Communication is absolutely essential. Husband and wife must communicate and dad better be listening.

I seriously doubt whether a man can have his home in order when cable tv and Hollywood movies are standard fare. I also think sending your kids to the public school will eventually destroy your ministry. The devil will exploit any areas of weakness in an elder. His family is target number one. If a man cannot shepherd them in the paths of righteousness, how in the world will he do it for others? That is what I mean by, No home, no ministry. As I write this, I think- God have mercy on me as I have a long way to go and a short time to get there.

It is true that children do place burdens on our hearts at times ,Yes of course. A quiver full of straight arrows is a blessing from God, but do you know how hard it is to get an arrow straight enough to be used in combat? But if he said that because of the children that he could not serve the Lord the way he wanted If he means that it is his children's fault, I would disagree.

Disciples become like their teacher. God doesn't need anybody to serve him and he certainly isn't losing sleep over, "If only pastor so and so could serve me like I wanted." But perhaps this guy is being humble. If my children become accused of riot and unruly, I would too say that because of my children, I cannot serve God in the way that I want. But I would also admit that it is my fault for training them so poorly and not rasing them as I should have.

"But God has unfaithful children to." Yes, and a lot of times they prove to be bastards and not sons. Also, God takes steps to bring about their repentance. For whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges many times. When we have disobedient children we take the necessary steps to see their repentance. Sometimes that means quitting the ministry. I think of Eli.

Strongholds Pt 4

2008-10-09T11:37:00.000-04:00

14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness I always am amazed to watch battles on TV. There are people on each side, that don’t carry a weapon or even a drum. Their job is to carry the banner. When they get shot, someone else picks it up. The banner usually has a crest or flag on it representing the nation for which it stands.

The banner for God is the truth. The banner for the devil is falsehood and lies. The vital organs of a soldier are protected by a breastplate. The heart, lungs, liver, kidneys etc. if they are damaged will bring death. There is no hope for a person to tear down a stronghold if they are not on God’s side. If they do not have the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is what salvation is, the enemy will render them useless in battle.

15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; The peace spoken of here is not between the two warring parties but between God and man. We defeat the enemy by stealing his soldiers. The gospel of Christ is the power of God. God predestinates His people to be the firstborn among many bretheren.

16 above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. The devil is a master liar. He is so good at deception, people don’t even know they are being lied to. 1 Tim 2:14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression. Eve really thought that she would be like God if she ate that fruit. The devil had her completely hoodwinked. She should have simply believed God. That is what faith is. Gen 2:17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." The need for faith in this battle is far reaching. When you are in the midst of the battle, there is not time for every soldier to question every command. The marine motto is, “Our is not to question why, ours is but to do or die.”

2Co 5:7 For we walk by faith, not by sight. for whatever is not from faith is sin. God does not want innovation and new ideas so much as he want us to do what he has called us to do. Hos 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; If you want to kill the enemy, shoot him in the head. The devil gets into the head of men through the ears and eyes. This is where the TV, movies, and mass media come into play. This is the Devil’s propaganda campaign. No soldier is worth much if he doesn’t have a weapon. You will not have much success tearing down a stronghold if you don’t have at least a sledgehammer. The word of God is our weapon. Jer 23:29 "Is not My word like a fire?" says the Lord, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces? We must memorize it, study it, read it prayerfully and do what it says. Jas 4:7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 18 praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints-- Prayer changes things. We remove strongholds through prayer. Prayer must come from righteous Christians battling for holiness. Psa 66:18 If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear. Jas 5:16 Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much. Here are the rules for war. We must be good soldiers. There are many strongholds to be torn down. Rom 16:24 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

Strongholds Pt 3

2008-10-08T11:34:00.000-04:00

11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. Luther said, “The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him.” War is a fearful thing. But what is there to be afraid of when we know which side will win and if we do happen to lose our physical life we receive the glory of heaven? Mat 16:25 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Let us not be mistaken, this is a war, and at stake is the eternal soul. The devil is a liar and very deceptive. 13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. The war speech of a Philistine general applies to the saints as we turn the tables 1Sa 4:9 Be strong and conduct yourselves like men, you Philistines, that you do not become servants of the Hebrews, as they have been to you. Conduct yourselves like men, and fight!"
14 Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, Stand, be brave, don’t back down. Luk 9:62 But Jesus said to him, "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God." Don’t miss the first and foremost point made here. Bathe yourself in the truth.

The Diviner from Detroit

2008-10-07T14:30:00.002-04:00

Arthur Sido the Sibyl says,

"Anyone who looks at the United States right now and doesn't see Rome, doesn't know a thing about history or human nature. We tolerate anything except taking a stand. We want everything right now and we want the biggest and the best. Our economy is in shambles, our national morality is at an all time low and we are about to elect an empty suit who is either dangerously naive or just dangerous.

Get your fiddles out, Rome is burning."

Strongholds Pt 2

2008-10-07T11:32:00.000-04:00

The key to tearing down a stronghold is identifying the stronghold. Confess it as sin and vow to hate it the rest of your life. The Bible gives us the formula for defeating strongholds in Ephesians Chapter 6. There are two great errors that we must deal with at the outset before we can begin to tear down strongholds.
One is that they aren’t really strongholds or that bad. Believing this will never cause us to repent of them in the first place.
Secondly, we must expect a bloody fight. Luke 14:31-33 Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. 33 So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.
You must be willing to crucify that which you love / worship most in this world. Few are willing to make such sacrifices! Joh 8:9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
Ephesians 6 gives the would be warrior a weapons list. The tools that one should daily arm himself with if he is going to tear down strongholds: Ephesians 6:10-20 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. This is not the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, this is both of those meeting the sovereign God of the universe. Dan 4:35 All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, "What have You done?"

Strongholds Pt 1.

2008-10-06T11:22:00.002-04:00

2 Corinthians 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds.

Thayer Definition: Stronghold
1) a castle, stronghold, fortress, fastness
2) anything on which one relies
3) of the arguments and reasonings by which a disputant endeavours to fortify his opinion and defend it against his opponent.

There are strongholds in every person’s life and in every church. You might not recognize them in your life until you attempt to remove them and realize how deep the roots run.
In the personal lives of Christians, there are strongholds like food, smoking, television, sports, gambling, drinking et.al
In themselves, they may not be inherently sinful. Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man. But Jesus gives us the principle very clearly by teaching us that anything we place before God is an idol and that 'MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD OF GOD.'
In churches there are strongholds. The most pronounced one being an unregenerate congregation. People are just not born again. The gospel is preached and people continue in their sins and wonder why the pastor doesn’t move on to something, “more applicable.” Other strongholds in churches are the love of money, love of the world, idolatry, hypocrisy, and pride. Many of which stem from stronghold #1 – “Such were some of you, but now you are washed…”
At various times we attack these strongholds in our own life. We have a solid concrete structure (strong hold) and we get so sick of it dominating our lives that we seek to destroy it. So we get out a huge sledge hammer and we take a mighty swing at it. Only to realize that it barely made a mark and now our back hurts. We begin to reason amongst ourselves that even if we do smash it, it will make such a terrible mess and rebuild itself anyway (Luke 11:26 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first.) So we quit, and have a treadmill drying laundry in the basement, a gym membership we have to pay on but never use, and now we are smoking more than before we tried to quit… Strongholds.

Public School Meditations

2008-10-02T14:19:00.000-04:00

RESPECT, (From Webster's 1828 Dictionary)
To view or consider with some degree of reverence; to esteem as possessed of real worth.

Families pass on beliefs, traditions, models of behavior to their children.

I want my children to understand:

Respect / Honor

Hard Work

Love

"What parents do in moderation, there children will do to excess."

Money, Money, Money, Money...

2008-10-01T16:13:00.000-04:00

Luke 12:32-34 "Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33 Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. 34 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

The love of money is demonstrated everywhere. People are greedy to get more, thus they send their babies off to “free” government day-care so both parents can work. People are terrified of losing what they do have which is why there are so many angry rants in the paper about the price of gas. Start your own gas station if you think it is so unfair. This is still America. This greed and worship of mammon is seen when there is absolute panic on Wall Street any time gas gets expensive or our economy reaps what it sows.

Jesus tells us to take on this fiasco by not worrying about food and clothing because He values us more than the birds that he feeds and the flowers he clothes. He assures us that we don’t need to be depressed and anxious about having food and drink, Luke 12:30 For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things.

Our heavenly Father knows what we have need of. The promise of the Bible is this. Luke 12:31 But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. Love God first and the most. Spend as much time on God as you do football! Spend as much money on the Kingdom of God as you do on boat payments, leased vehicles, internet, cable TV, and food. Get out of debt, not into more. Be as zealous about providing yourself treasure in heaven as you are treasure on Wall Street, because as the Scripture says and the current crisis proves, thieves come in and steal that.

You want to know how to respond to the economic crisis? Luk 18:22 So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, "You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me." Mar 8:36 For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

How To Preach by John VonDoloski

2008-09-30T10:27:00.001-04:00

Here are some notes I made for teaching our men how to prepare a message. This is a process that I am going to have them work through and thought that you might be interested.

Preparing Expository Messages

I. Hermeneutics – interpreting the text
1. Pray for divine guidance and enlightenment confessing your inability to rightly divide the word of God apart from the Spirit of God.
2. Identify the text
3. Read the text (or book) multiple times (at least 7) to establish the context. You want to understand a conversation before you quote someone and pull their words out of context.
4. Treasure of Scripture Knowledge for every verse in the text, recording useful verses.
5. Read every commentary you can find on the text. Write down any insightful quotes. Note: if you search all historical interpretations and nobody agrees with you – you’re probably wrong.
6. Identify the main point of the passage also called a proposition or thesis sentence. Try to summarize it in a single sentence. This is the most important part of the message. Pray. Answer two questions: What is the text saying? What does it say about what it is saying?
7. Identify the main verse divisions of the text. Pray for them. Don’t worry about what the point will be; just identify how many points there will be from the text.

HALFTIME - Most sermons start right here or end right here. However, after doing this, you don’t have a message yet. This is the difference between a commentary and a sermon. You may know what the text is saying but you now have to determine how to deliver the message.

II. Homiletics – delivering and communicating the text
1. Pray for your heart to be right. Allow the message to speak to yourself first.
2. Meditation, meditation, meditation. Revolve it in your mind. Comparable to slow cooking meat in a crockpot until it is tender and falls apart. This is also essential when identifying the main divisions of the text. Flush them out like hunting Pheasants.
3. Develop your main divisions into main points. Three things you can do with the text. One is primary but all three present. Explain, Prove, and Apply.
4. Write out transitions between the main points showing how they connect to the main proposition.
5. Be transparent and tell of how God has used this truth in your life. If it hasn’t affected your life, why would you expect it to impact someone else’s? If it has impacted your life, you have received a blessing regardless of whether your audience is unmoved.
6. Illustration and your points must come from meditation, when God turns the light on. When the truth of the text is digested, you begin to see how it applies in your life, and see the principle manifest in everyday life. (Don’t just think of an illustration and then develop a text to support it.)
7. Develop an introduction. A way to take people from the cares of this life and the multitude of distractions and bring them into the text. Probably write this out word for word though you won’t necessarily read it. Just because this is important.
8. Write out (again word for word) a conclusion. Summarize BRIEFLY what the message is. Land the plane. Make the application answering the question of how this should change their life. Give them something to take home.
III. Pray for God to empower the message. .

Purity

2008-09-30T10:07:00.004-04:00

"Too often readers turn to books so they can vicariously experience sin...books that pander to their sexual fantasies, to their dreams of wealth and power, to their dark, secret obsessions with sadistic violence or occult nightmares. Reading the pornographic descriptions and acts of brutality gratifies their secret desires, giving them perverted pleasures in the privacy of their own imaginations."

Matthew 5:27-28 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY.' 28 But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

"The application is inescapable. Just as we must avoid sinful actions, we must avoid sinful imaginings. If our eyes lead us into sin, it is better to gouge them out that allow them to lead us to Hell."

quotes taken from "Reading Between the Lines" by Gene Edward Veith Jr.

The New Birth

2008-09-25T12:29:00.000-04:00

Many people claim to be born again Christians. We get the term new-birth from the Bible and I can only assume that claiming to be born again means that you claim that what the Bible refers to as being born again is what a person means.

I know people carve the Scriptures up to mean whatever they want them to mean but this article pushes me over the top.

People magazine features Aiken holding his son, born in August through in vitro fertilization with his gay lover. This is the part of the article that makes me close my eyes and shake my head.

"Aiken, who considers himself a born-again Christian, said he knows he may turn off some fans -- known as Claymates -- with his admission and his decision to have a child outside traditional marriage." This is on the heels of Contemporary Christian artist Ray Boltz coming out of the closet yet still maintaining that he is a Christian.

Now we can all stomp and scream and say that he is not a Christian because the bible says sodomites and homosexuals cannot go to heaven. But do you know who else the bible says will not go to heaven?

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous.

Clay Aiken needs prayer and may God have mercy on this poor baby. Clay is demonstrating clearly that he is not a born - again Christian. But JUST AS BAD, are people who are in love with this world more than God. That is why you cheat on your taxes, covet what other people have, and worship other things than God. You cannot live as a fornicator in an adulterous relationship and then get married or break up and never repent of those sins and just pretend like they never happened and 'resume your Christianity." (Usually because you accepted Jesus when you were really young)

If we are going to take these Scriptures literally, I ask the question the disciples asked Jesus after he said, rich people won't go to heaven.

"Are there few that be saved?" The obvious answer if the Bible means what it says, is YES, few.

No holiness, no heaven.

Many

2008-09-24T14:04:00.000-04:00

1Co 1:26 For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called.

Matthew 20:28 Even as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.

John 17:2 As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him.

Acts 13:48 And when the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed.

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses.

MANY

1. Numerous; comprising a great number of individuals.

Thou shalt be a father of many nations. Gen 17.

It is often preceded by as or so, and followed by so, indicating an equal number.

As many books as you take, so many shall be charged to your account. See John 17:2

2. In low language, preceded by too, it denotes powerful or much; as, they are too many for us.

G4183
πολύς / πολλός
polus / polos
Thayer Definition:
1) many, much, largePart of Speech: adjective

Voddie Baucham on Worship

2008-09-23T11:00:00.000-04:00

Q. Why do you place so much emphasis on Who leads worship at the events in which you participate?
A. I have a very high view of the role of the worship leader. I view leading worship as a sort of pastoral responsibility to which one must be called, and for which one must be equipped. Unfortunately, we live in a time when every kid who knows five chords and ten songs thinks God has called him or her to be a worship leader. Hence, there is a flood of young, inexperienced, untrained, and often biblically illiterate worship leaders who have done nothing more than learn the top songs off of a few worship CD’s. This is a travesty!
These guys go on to steal songs from men and women whom God has anointed and gifted to write songs, and use them to make CD’s of their own. All of this is done in the name of having “product” to sell on the road, or to promote ones self as a worship leader. Imagine John Mayer going into the studio and saying, “forget the hard work of producing an original album, lets just take the top ten songs from last year and put them all on my new CD this year.” That would be unthinkable! Nevertheless, that is what is happening every day with so-called worship leaders in this current generation; and they think that paying someone a few cents per copy makes it ok. I would rather not be a party to that.

I also do not think it is a good idea to work with people with whom I do not share a ministry philosophy, or theology of worship. I do not think that a worship leader and a preacher should just be thrown into the mix together because they are both “good at what they do,” and they both “love God.” That’s like putting a wishbone quarterback on a run-n-shoot team and expecting him to do well because he has great athletic ability!
A good voice and a love for God is not the sum total of a worship leader’s qualifications. Nor is it the ability to “move a crowd.” There is the question of the depth of one’s theology and how that depth is communicated in the songs one chooses to use, and how one chooses to use them. There is the ability to choose songs that are appropriate for the given audience and occasion. There is the ability to sense where God is leading and moving during a service, or a series of services (I.e. choosing response songs that suit the manner in which God is calling people to respond to what they’ve heard).

These are just a few things that must be taken into consideration. Unfortunately, they rarely enter into the decision of whom one will invite to lead worship. Often, the only questions asked are, “does he do the songs our people like?” and “does he sing well?” That is the type of shallow, carnal approach to ministry I try to avoid.

More Spurgeon

2008-09-22T09:04:00.000-04:00

I think that anybody who has been brought to find the Saviour, and who prayerfully studies the reasons for his salvation, can see the same truth that the Lord revealed to me. Because, first of all, you began to be thoughtful, did you not? Who made you thoughtful? You would never have found the Savour if you had not become thoughtful instead of careless and indifferent. Who made you think of divine things? What influence was it which wrought upon you, and caused you to feel that you must think about eternity, and heaven, and hell? Surely it was God the Holy Ghost going forth, in the name of Jesus Christ, and dealing with you in mercy.

Then you had a sense of your need and of your sinfulness. There was a time when you had no such sense; then, who gave it to you? Where do you think that repentance, that sorrow for sin, that desire after Christ, came from? Did all that grow in your own fallen human nature? Ah, believe me, that dunghill never brought forth such fair flowers as these! No, it was Christ who sowed the good seed in your soul; it was he who made you feel your need of him.

Lordship Preaching

2008-09-22T08:48:00.000-04:00

"I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, "You are mine, and you shall be mine. I claim you for myself." My hope arises from the freeness of grace, and not from the freedom of the will."

Charles Haddon Spurgeon

Matthew Henry weighs in on the Lordship Debate

2008-09-15T09:52:00.003-04:00

Commentary on John 1:37-39

"In calling him Rabbi, they intimated that their design in coming to him was to be taught by him; rabbi signifies a master, a teaching master; the Jews called their doctors, or learned men, rabbies. The word comes from rab, multus or magnus, a rabbi, a great man, and one that, as we say, has much in him. Never was there such a rabbi as our Lord Jesus, such a great one, in whom were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. These came to Christ to be his scholars, so must all those that apply themselves to him. John had told them that he was the Lamb of God; now this Lamb is worthy to take the book and open the seals as a rabbi, Rev_5:9. And, unless we give up ourselves to be ruled and taught by him, he will not take away our sins." (emphasis mine)

Stony Hearers

2008-09-13T18:09:00.000-04:00

There are so many stony ground hearers who receive the Word with joy that I have determined to suspend my judgment till I know the tree by its fruits ...Do you think any farmer would have a crop of corn next year unless he plowed now? You may as well expect a crop of corn on unplowed ground as a crop of grace until the soul is convinced of its being undone without a Savior. That is the reason we have so many mushroom converts, so many persons that are always happy! happy! happy! and never were miserable. Why? Because their stony ground is not plowed up; they have not got a conviction of the law . . . they fall away . . . That makes me so cautious now, which I was not thirty years ago, of dubbing converts too soon. Now I wait a little, and see if people bring forth fruit; for there are so many blossoms which March winds blow away that I cannot believe they are converts till I see fruit brought forth.
George Whitefield (1714-1770).

Palin for President?

2008-09-11T13:38:00.003-04:00

Unsurprised, we find the liberal press condemning Sarah Palin because she needs to be home taking care of her Down Syndrome child and her other 4 children. The issue of having an unwed, pregnant 17 year old is also being brought up by the media as if this is a bad thing.

Just because the liberal press would never say such things if the candidate were a liberal does not mean they are wrong. Let us not make the same mistake they make.

I like Palin's conservative positions. She seems quite pleasant. But I have concerns.

The Bible makes it clear that women are to raise their children and be home-makers. That does not mean they cannot work outside the home necessarily, but it does mean this is their first priority. I question whether that is the case with Mrs. Palin.

Two Scriptures that I will let speak for themselves, add your own commentary:

Isa 3:12 As for My people, children are their oppressors, And women rule over them. O My people! Those who lead you cause you to err, And destroy the way of your paths."

Titus 2:4-5 that they admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, 5 to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be blasphemed.

Hunger for God Pt. 2

2008-09-11T09:40:00.004-04:00

A HUNGER FOR GOD pg 48-49

"This is the essence of Christian fasting:

We ache and yearn—and fast—to know more and more of all that God is for us in Jesus. But only because he has already laid hold of us and is drawing us ever forward and upward into “all the fullness of God.”

My prayer for the Christian church is that God might awaken in us a new hunger for himself—a new fasting.

Not because we haven’t tasted the new wine of Christ’s presence, but because we have tasted it and long, with a deep and joyful aching of soul, to know more of his presence and power in our
midst."

A Hunger for God

2008-09-09T08:13:00.001-04:00

I have started reading John Piper's "A Hunger for God." You can do so also just by clicking on the title as I have linked it to the Desiring God website where Piper MAKES ALL OF HIS BOOKS AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR FREE!

I would like to see others do this to demonstrate that they are not just writing books to make money, but to serve the Christian community and body of Christ.

I will blog about what I learn as I am desiring to look into fasting as I see the urgent need of revival in my church and community.

May God give us all a hunger for Him. Here is an excerpt:

"For all the ill that Satan can do, when God
describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is
a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife (Luke 14:18-20). The
greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts.
And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but
for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an
appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable,
and almost incurable."

Just What the Doctor Ordered

2008-09-08T11:30:00.004-04:00

Few men that I have ever read after have insight into the Scriptures like Arthur Pink. I don't agree with everything he says, but the man sees the spiritual side of Scripture like few others. Matthew Henry, JC. Ryle are two others with this gift.

Here is a quote from Pink that I read this morning that was like a stream of cool water on a hot dry day.

""Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples" (John 1:35). This is the place to ask the question, What was the fruitage of John’s mission? What results accrued from his ministry? They were very similar to what may be expected to attend the labors of a servant of God, who is used of His Master, today. John had borne faithful witness to Christ: how had his ministry been received.’,

In the first place, the religious leaders of his day rejected the testimony of God (Luke 7:30).

In the second place, great crowds were attracted, and men of all sorts attended upon his ministry (Luke 3:7-15).

In the third place, only a few were really affected by his message, and stood ready to receive the Messiah when He appeared.

It has been much the same all through the ages. When God sends forth a man to take an active and prominent part in His service, the religious leaders look upon him with suspicion, and hold aloof in their fancied superiority. On the other hand, the vulgar, curious crowds, ever hungering for the novel and sensational, are attracted; but comparatively few are really touched in their consciences and hearts."

Leadership & The Home

2008-09-05T10:55:00.003-04:00

1 Timothy 3:4-5 one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?

Titus 1:6 if a man is blameless, the husband of one wife, having faithful children not accused of dissipation or insubordination.

I am taking our church through a study of “The Master’s Plan for the Church” by John MacArthur. We recently covered the subject of the biblical requirements for being an elder. This subject sparked more discussion than any other subject we have covered in Sunday School.
I tried to qualify the conversation before I took questions with: “Don’t disqualify the Scripture here because you knew of a pastor who had a great ministry even though his home was not in order.” Although that is exactly what happened.

One dear lady in our class was talking to a friend of hers about the topic and the ladies response was “Well your pastor needs to go talk to Billy Graham. Imagine how many people would not have been saved if he disqualified himself from the ministry because his children were rebellious...” Yeah, just imagine...

Several individuals have been amazed at this teaching and wondered aloud,
“I can’t think of any of the pastors of my previous churches who weren’t disqualified from the ministry according to these qualifications.”

Reverent, faithful children who are not rioters or insubordinate. Can you think of any family in all the bible whose children met this qualification?

Abraham?
Isaac?
Jacob?
David?
Samuel?
Eli?

So what does this passage mean?

Momma Say Knock You Out!

2008-09-03T18:27:00.002-04:00

Imagine my surprise at finding a highlight of me from my high school football days.

False Prophets of whom I am chief

2008-09-02T15:05:00.002-04:00

QUESTIONER: Would you be willing to address your congregation as a group as sinners?

SCHULLER: No I don't think I need to do that. ... My only concern is: I don't want to drive them farther away than they are! ... I do let people know how great their sins and miseries are. How do I do that? I don't do that by standing in a pulpit and telling them they're sinners. ... The way I do it is ask questions. Are you happy? Do you have problems, what are they? So then I come across as somebody who cares about them ... So the way I preach sin is by calling to attention what it does to them here and now, and their need for divine grace! ... I believe in heaven. I believe in hell. But I don't know what happens there. I don't take it literally that it's a fire that never stops burning.

QUESTIONER: As Jesus said it was?
SCHULLER: Jesus was not literal.

QUESTIONER: Justified from what? The wrath of God?
SCHULLER: Oh! I'll never use that language.

QUESTIONER: But the Bible does.
SCHULLER: Yes, the Bible does, but the Bible is ... a contradiction: Old Testament -- Law, New Testament -- Grace. Jesus is a contradiction; totally human and totally God.

QUESTIONER: Of course we would say that the dual nature of Christ is a "mystery" but not a contradiction.
SCHULLER: It is a contradiction, but you know what? Contradictions are ultimate points of creativity...

QUESTIONER: How could the cross, as you write, "sanctify the ego trip," and make us proud, in the light of passages that say, "I hate pride and arrogance (Prov. 8:13), "Pride goes before destruction" (Prov. 16:18),"The Lord detests all the proud" (Prov. 16:5), "Do not be proud" (Rom. 12:16), "Love does not boast, it is not proud" (1 Cor. 13:4). In fact Paul warns Timothy that in the last days men "will be lovers of themselves" (2 Tim. 3:2). ... Why should we do anything to encourage people to become "lovers of themselves" if Paul in fact warned others that that would be the state of godlessness in the last days?
SCHULLER: I hope you don't [preach this] because you could do a lot of damage to a lot of beautiful people. ... if you preach that text, oh man, I sure hope you give it the kind of interpretation that I do or, I'll tell you, you'll drive them farther away and they'll be madder than hell at you and they'll turn the Bible off, and they'll switch you off, and they'll turn on the rock music and Madonna. Just because it's in the Bible doesn't mean you should preach it. ... it is so difficult to preach some of those texts and not come across as lacking humility ...

Few Say it Better than Dougwils.com

2008-08-30T17:58:00.001-04:00

One more thing. An issue that will be discussed among some conservative Christians is the propriety of electing a woman. Evangelical Christians are overwhelmingly hostile to feminism, and so what is with that? I have argued before from Isaiah 3:12 -- "children are their oppressors, and women rule over them" -- that feminism is one of the things Scripture uses as an indicator of God's judgment on a culture. I still believe that, and also believe that we are in fact under this particular judgment in our culture. But as a biblical absolutist, and not a simple traditionalist, I also want to make room for the occasional Deborah. Life is funny, and you should remember that in the Bible Deborah was the dame who upstaged a fellow named Barak. Kinda spooky when you think about it.

Knowing God Pt. 7

2008-08-28T16:26:00.000-04:00

"Were we imagining a God, then naturally we should ascribe to him only characteristics which we admired, and jealousy would not enter the picture. Nobody would imagine a jealous God. But we are not making up an idea of God by drawing on our imagination; we are seeking instead to listen to the words of Holy Scripture, in which God himself tells us the truth about himself."

2008-08-26T10:45:00.000-04:00

"People have gotten into the practice of following private religious hunches rather than learning of God from his own Word."

"People have ceased to recognize the reality of their own sinfulness, which imparts a degree of perversity and enmity against God to all that they think and do; it is our task to try to introduce people to this fact about themselves and so make them self-distrustful and open to correction by the word of Christ."

To which I would add, "starting with our eye beams first."

Caption Contest Winners

2008-08-25T09:25:00.004-04:00

Contest #1 - Ryan Boomershine with his "On Board Mechanic"
Contest #2 - Faithful Servant with his Fishing Classified ad.

E-mail me your address and shirt size and I will send the T-shirt.

If anyone else would like a T-shirt, I will sell them for $10 and I will pay for the shipping.

mrvondo@hotmail.com

College Presidents - Genius

2008-08-20T10:14:00.001-04:00

From Fox News, "College presidents from about 100 of the nation's best-known universities, including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State, are calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws actually encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.(emphasis mine)

"This is a law that is routinely evaded," said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. "It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory."

So if people are going to break the law, and worse yet, think it is unfair, the best thing to do is to get rid of the law. That way, people will not be lawbreakers. Do they teach logic in the class to become College President?

18 year olds with the right to drink alcohol. - Yeah, nothing could possibly go wrong with that one.