Faithfulness

Faithfulness- "firmly adhering to the observance of a duty, keeping your word, fulfilling your obligations. It involves being loyal, constant, and reliable." - From Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin pg 57.

It is always nice for a pastor to have folks who want to be involved in the ministry of the church. One thing I am becoming more and more convinced of is that if you are not faithfully committed to the church, faithful in reading your bible, faithful in prayer, faithful in your relationships with others...you will not be faithful serving in ministry in the church.

Be faithful. Stop causing the leadership of your church to think, "I wonder if so and so will show up today?"
Numbers 12:7 Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house.

Deuteronomy 7:9 "Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

1 Samuel 2:35 Then I will raise up for Myself a faithful priest who shall do according to what is in My heart and in My mind. I will build him a sure house, and he shall walk before My anointed forever.

1 Samuel 22:14 So Ahimelech answered the king and said, "And who among all your servants is as faithful as David, who is the king's son-in-law, who goes at your bidding, and is honorable in your house?

Nehemiah 7:2 that I gave the charge of Jerusalem to my brother Hanani, and Hananiah the leader of the citadel, for he was a faithful man and feared God more than many.

Nehemiah 9:8 You found his heart faithful before You, And made a covenant with him To give the land of the Canaanites, The Hittites, the Amorites, The Perizzites, the Jebusites, And the Girgashites-- To give it to his descendants. You have performed Your words, For You are righteous.

Nehemiah 13:13 And I appointed as treasurers over the storehouse Shelemiah the priest and Zadok the scribe, and of the Levites, Pedaiah; and next to them was Hanan the son of Zaccur, the son of Mattaniah; for they were considered faithful, and their task was to distribute to their brethren.

Psalms 12:1 To the Chief Musician. On An Eight-Stringed Harp. A Psalm of David. Help, Lord, for the godly man ceases! For the faithful disappear from among the sons of men.

Psalms 78:37 For their heart was not steadfast with Him, Nor were they faithful in His covenant.

Matthew 25:23 His lord said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'

Luke 12:42 And the Lord said, "Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his master will make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of food in due season?

Luke 16:10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.

Luke 16:11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?

Luke 16:12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

Luke 19:17 And he said to him, 'Well done, good servant; because you were faithful in a very little, have authority over ten cities.'

Acts 16:15 And when she and her household were baptized, she begged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and stay." So she persuaded us.

1 Corinthians 1:9 God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Corinthians 4:2 Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful.

1 Corinthians 4:17 For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church.

1 Corinthians 10:13 No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it.

2 Corinthians 1:18 But as God is faithful, our word to you was not Yes and No.

Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, To the saints who are in Ephesus, and faithful in Christ Jesus:

Ephesians 6:21 But that you also may know my affairs and how I am doing, Tychicus, a beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make all things known to you;

Colossians 1:2 To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colosse: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Colossians 1:7 as you also learned from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on your behalf,

Colossians 4:7 Tychicus, a beloved brother, faithful minister, and fellow servant in the Lord, will tell you all the news about me.

Colossians 4:9 with Onesimus, a faithful and beloved brother, who is one of you. They will make known to you all things which are happening here.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.

1 Timothy 1:12 And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me, because He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry,

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief.

1 Timothy 3:1 This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work.

1 Timothy 3:11 Likewise, their wives must be reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things.

1 Timothy 4:9 This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance.

2 Timothy 2:2 And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

2 Timothy 2:11 This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, We shall also live with Him.

2 Timothy 2:13 If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

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

Titus 1:9 holding fast the faithful word as he has been taught, that he may be able, by sound doctrine, both to exhort and convict those who contradict.

Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I want you to affirm constantly, that those who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable to men.

Hebrews 2:17 Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

Hebrews 3:2 who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.

Hebrews 3:5 And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward,

Hebrews 10:23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.

Hebrews 11:11 By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

1 Peter 4:19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.

1 Peter 5:12 By Silvanus, our faithful brother as I consider him, I have written to you briefly, exhorting and testifying that this is the true grace of God in which you stand.

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Revelation 1:5 and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood,

Revelation 2:10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.

Revelation 3:14 "And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God:

Revelation 17:14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful."

Revelation 19:11 Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.

Revelation 21:5 Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me, "Write, for these words are true and faithful."

Revelation 22:6 Then he said to me, "These words are faithful and true." And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.

Exo 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

There is a hubbub going on today concerning Oprah Winfrey and her dingbat religion she is starting or supporting. If Christians were to use the Bible as our guide, we would not seek advice from an immoral woman. (It is a known truth that Oprah has a “partner” she is not married to and has confessed publicly to having an affair with a married man…) Proverbs 7:5,24-27 Now therefore, listen to me, my children; Pay attention to the words of my mouth: 25 Do not let your heart turn aside to her ways, Do not stray into her paths; 26 For she has cast down many wounded, And all who were slain by her were strong men. 27 Her house is the way to hell. Descending to the chambers of death.
Christian band Casting Crowns pleads,

“What if people prayed and Stopped asking Oprah what to do?” But I digress.

People get upset when you call sin what it is and also when you attempt to make any kind of judgment about anybody. Which is what I want to post about.

Oprah says she grew up in Baptist churches and bought into the church until she heard the preacher say that God was jealous. She was furious. She would not and could not worship a God who was not like the God she wanted. She would have no jealous God, even though the Bible calls him just that in many places. She would have no Bible telling her about God. She wanted a God of her own imagination. Jer 23:17 They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you..

What does it mean that God is jealous? If you are like me, you don’t like posts longer than 100 words, so I will answer this question in another post.

The Law of Process

"Leadership develops daily, not in a day."

Mike Wolford, Save-A-Lot District manager was the school board President who hired me to be the Administrator of Otsego Christian School. He was the first person to teach me this valuable truth of leadership.

"You must make deposits in people's love bank if you are going to write checks."

In other words if you are going to get the people to do things they don't want to do, you have to do things to show the people that you love them and that you are a good person and trustworthy. If you have $1.47 in the person's bank and try to write a $50 check, you are in for late fees, penalties and frustration.

I'll never forget the time when the kindergarten teacher (queen bee) brought the 4th grade teacher into my office in the middle of the year and told me in no uncertain terms that the 4th grade teacher was no longer going to teach the history program I had selected for 4th grade.

Another time she pulled me aside and told me that she was not going to enforce the dress code that I had set because her pastor had told them that dress was a matter of personal liberty.

I had no influence in the school, being my first year there, and being that I was younger than all the teachers. She had been there the longest and was the oldest. I learned a valuable, painful lesson from that battle axe- The Law of process. People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care. Take this to the bank.

Deism, & the Foreknowledge of Free willers

DEISM, n. the belief or system of religious opinions of those who acknowledge the existence of one God, but deny revelation: or deism is the belief in natural religion only,
or those truths, in doctrine and practice, which man is to discover by the light of reason, independent and exclusive of any revelation from God. Hence deism implies infidelity or a disbelief in the divine origin of the scriptures. (Websters 1828 Dictionary)

Depending on who you read after, some of our founding Father's were Deists. Thomas Jefferson for sure. Most evangelicals would claim that deism, as defined above, to be rank heresy.

However, it is interesting to me how deism, the idea that God created the world like a clock, wound it up, and then let it run its course without interfering, has influenced many churches to embrace deism in their view of salvation.

Let me explain.

The Bible teaches what theologians call The Sovereignty of God.

Eph 1:11 In Him also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will,

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?"

God is in charge of sparrows, lillies, and knows the number of hairs on everyone's head. Nothing takes place without his knowledge and even more so His direct, sovereign will directing the course of every aspect of the universe!

If he is not Soveriegn, then He is not God, whoever and whatever controls Him is.

Lot's of people like to say that all the verses in the Bible that deal with predestination and forknowledge of God regarding salvation happen like this.

"God knew everybody who was going to accept Him, and those are the ones he predestinated."

Do you see a problem with these two competing ideas?

Is God Sovereign over all acts or does He just forsee what will happen?

Even more seriously, these people are claiming that God forsaw that people would choose him for salvation. Now could there be ANY greater work or deed on the part of man, than to repent of their sins and put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation?

SO,

Is salvation by grace or is it by debt (God owes us for choosing him)?

Is God sovereign over the flowers, grass and hair, but not the sinner?

Embracing free will is nothing more than embracing a form of deism, (What you practice is what you believe) it is putting man on the throne of salvation and not God, and it attacks the very nature of salvation being from the Lord,(the author and finisher of our faith) by grace alone and says, people do have a little bit of good in them, (Actually a lot of good, making the greatest possible act of goodness from within- choosing God) God sees their good and wise choice, and decided on the basis of what they chose, to become their God. (He does after all owe it to them if they call him on His promise to save them)

Ludicrous! Abandon your deism, submit to God on the throne of all things, believe the Scriptures that teach there is none that do good or seek after God.

To choose or be chosen

One resounding tune that gets struck in many of my Sunday School classes is the open string E chord of "But that is why each man has free will..."

I would heartily recommend to everyone interested in the subject of Free will to read the Bondage of the Will by Martin Luther. The book is his response to Erasmus who debated with Luther on whether or not man chooses God for salvation or if God chooses man.

For me, I think we make it too difficult. Let the Bible mean what it says:
Romans 3:10-11 As it is written: "THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE; 11 THERE IS NONE WHO UNDERSTANDS; THERE IS NONE WHO SEEKS AFTER GOD.

1. How many people are there who have good (righteousness) in them?
2. How many seek after God?

What further evidence do we need to prove that none will choose God?

Who then will come to God for salvation?
Joh 6:44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him;

Who will come to God through Christ?

Book Review

On Christian Liberty by Martin Luther

To tell you what I think of the book, I was in the middle of reading it when I stopped and went to Amazon and ordered 5 copies for our church book table. I also plan to give a few away to people I believe would benefit from its contents.

Luther expounds the idea that Christians are liberated (free) from sin and death,

"Our faith in Christ does not free us from works but from false opinions concerning works."

He again and again assaults the notion that our justification comes from works,

"God cannot be worshiped unless you ascribe to him the glory of truthfulness and all goodness which is due Him. This cannot be done by works but only by the faith of the heart. Not by the doing of works but by believing do we glorify God and acknowledge that he is truthful."

Brilliantly explains how this does not give us license for vice but frees us to love our neighbor.

"I will do nothing in this life except what I see is necessary , profitable, and salutary to my neighbor, since through faith I have an abundance of all good things in Christ."

If I had to choose a favorite part of the book, it would be his brilliant explanation of how to live in this world as being free in Christ but bound to love all men. He uses the example of how Paul had Timothy circumcised because of the weak Jews, young in the faith, but refused to circumcise Titus because older Jews were requiring it for salvation.

This principle applies to so many things to Christians today as we attempt to navigate every issue that causes division, church splits, and denominations.

"The Christian must take a middle course and face those two classes of men. He will meet first the unyielding, stubborn ceremonialists who like deaf adders are not willing to hear the truth of liberty (Ps 58:4) but, having no faith, boast of, prescribe, and insist upon their ceremonies as means of justification. Such were the Jews of old, who were unwilling to learn how to do good. These he must resist, do the very opposite, and offend them boldly lest by their impious views they drag many with them into error."

Another quote that made me laugh out loud comes after he has explained his two theses:

"Finally, something must be added for the sake of those for whom nothing can be said so well that they will not spoil it by misunderstanding it. It is questionable whether they will understand even what will be said here."

You do yourself a disservice in not reading this book.

Knowing God Pt. 6 "Potter & the Clay"

"There is a lot of it (sloth) around today in Chrisitan circles; the symptoms are personal spiritual inertia combined with critical cycincism about the churches and supercilious resentment of other Christians' initiative and enterprise.

Behind this morbid and deadening condition often lies the wounded pride of one who thought he knew all about the ways of God in providence an then was made to learn by bitter and bewildering experience that he didn't...

The truth is that God in his wisdom, to make and keep us humble and to teach us to walk by faith, has hidden from us almost everything that we should like to know about the providential purposes which he is working out in the churches and our own lives."

Pg 106 Knowing God by JI Packer

For those who have ever been on a board or a committee

John Adams on the Continental Congress:

"This assembly is like no other that ever existed. Every man in it is a great man, an orator, a critic, a statesman, and therefore every man upon every question must show his oratory, his criticism, and his political abilities.

The consequence of this is that business is drawn and spun out to immeasurable length. I believe if it was moved and seconded that we should come to a resolution that three and two make five, we should be entertained with logic and rhetoric, law, history, politics, and mathematics concerning the subject for two whole days, and then we should pass the resolution unanimously in the affirmative."

But wouldn't we all agree that those meetings were necessary?

America was "a great unwieldy body, its progress must be slow. It is like a large fleet sailing under convoy. The fleetest sailors must wait for the dullest and slowest."

Leaders Are Readers

"He acquired more and more books, books being an acknowledged extravagance he could seldom curb. (With one London bookseller he had placed a standing order for 'every book and pamphlet, of reputation, upon the subjects of law and government as soon as it comes out.')

"I want to see my wife and children every day, " he would write while away on the court circuit. "I want to see my grass and blossoms and corn...But above all, except the wife and children, I want to see my books."

John Adams by David McCullough pg 64

Knowing God Pt. 3

A lady in our church told me last night that her sister is being kicked out of her house and is going to live in her vehicle. I read in Knowing God today the following quote: "They are many, whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the submiddle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves."

Should we not have the mind of Christ who became poor for us?

Should not this mind be in us which was also in Christ Jesus?

Worship

The following is an excerpt from Worship Matters, a book by Bob Kauflin Crossway

“In a letter written from prison, Paul requested Timothy to bring him “the books” (2Timothy 4:13). Charles Spurgeon, the 19th century “prince of preachers,” expressed amazement at such a request from Paul: ”He was inspired, and yet he wants books! He had been preaching for thirty years, and yet he wants books! He had seen the Lord, and yet he wants books! He had a wider experience than most men do, and yet he wants books! He had been caught up into the third heaven, and had heard things that it was not lawful for a man to utter, and yet he wants books! He had written a major part of the New Testament, and yet he wants books!”

Spurgeon then reminds us, “He who will not use the thoughts of other men’s brains proves he has no brains of his own.”

Readers are plentiful, thinkers are rare.

Ecc 12:12 And further, my son, be admonished by these. Of making many books there is no end, and much study is wearisome to the flesh.

The wisest man that ever walked the face of the earth admonished us that there will be no end to the making of books and that much study is wearisome to the flesh.

Upon receiving about 25 books at the T4G Conference, I was actually discouraged because I knew that I was not going to read them all. As I thought about giving them away to people I think would actually read them, I began to wrestle with selfishness- Mine, mine, mine. Forgive me Lord. How easily I am made to stumble over stupid things.

As we came to our seats each morning at the conference a new pack of books was waiting for us in our seats. Do you know how hard it was not to take a few extra stacks from other seats? Even though I knew I wouldn’t read the ones in my own seat? The lust of the flesh, forgive me Lord.

On the back of most books are endorsements from other famous people. These are put on the book to increase sales and perhaps for the endorsers name to be read by everyone who picks up the book so that when they come out with a book, people will buy that one too. And the best way to get others to endorese your book is to endorse the books of popular people.

Knowing God by J.I. Packer has a section in there about us loving God because He first loved us. It talks clearly about sovereign grace, that we do not choose God but He chooses us and ordains us to salvation. Anyone who has ever read Packer knows that he is a staunch Calvinist. So when I flipped the book over to see who endorsed it, imagine my surprise to see names hostile to the doctrines of grace saying things like:
“I need a new edition of Knowing God…I’ve worn my original copy out!”
“For years I have been asked to list the ‘top twenty’ Christian books I have read. Knowing God has been on that list since the mid 1970’s”

How can people endorse a book with comments such as these when it contains what they preach over and over again, to be heresy?

I have a theory. Knowing God is a massive best seller. If you get your name on the back, people will buy your books when they come out too. That way you can convince all the people who read Knowing God of your view. Despicable

Too many books, and too much “you endorse my book, I’ll endorse yours.”
At the T4G conference, before every session, different men got up there and promoted each others books (that they had already endorsed in writing on the back cover) that we were to rush right out and purchase. I for one was not buying it (or the books.) I can't spend money when I smell a rat. Neither should you.

Buy a couple good books, (you don't need obscure Puritan commentaries on Job.) Read them, be blessed by them, then give them away. If you want some, come to me and I will give you some. If you can read them and tell me what they are all about, I will give you more.
This is all until I write a book, then the whole thing changes. I might even ask you to give a ringing endorsment on the back.

Knowing God Pt. 1

After receiving a plethora of books at the T4G conference I recently attended, I figured I would start reading some of the good books I have already before I start tackling the new ones. I used to be real big on having a huge library and reading. I still am a lover of good books, but not nearly what I once was. I spend the majority of my reading now on books that deal with the subjects I am covering as pastor of VCC.

In Sunday School, I am teaching a Survey of the Old Testament. I use J. Sidlow Baxter's Discover the Book and listen to my brother's lectures on the book as well. That along with studying the book itself is more information that I can comprehend and more than I can 'cram' into Sunday School.

I just finished preaching through the book of Mark and began this last week preaching through the entire book of John. For Mark, I used the following resources: Matthew Henry and John Gill's commentary, Strong and Thayer's Greek dictionaries, Websters' 1828Dictionary, and a few other resources. All of these are found on free Bible software provided by E-Sword which I cannot recommend highly enough.

I also use J.C. Ryles commentaries which can be found online and The NIV Application Commentary by David Garland. I also always check to see if John Piper has preached on the passage before or deals with the subject in other gospel accounts. I look through sermon audio and appreciated Charles Gormley's expositions through the entire book.

Going through John, pastor Josh from Indian River gave me two books, which so far have not been much help (and actually Josh might need to publically confess his coveting of books while we attended T4G) and I have AW Pinks commentary on the whole book.

On Friday night, our church is going through a book study on "What Jesus Demands from the World." If you don't appreciate Piper's ministry, you need to repent.

I actually started this blog post out to talk about a book I already owned that I just picked up and started reading, so I will talk about that in my next post. Knowing God by JI Packer.