Praise Factory intro...

Praise Factory – 4 volunteers: High Priest, (2 sheep/ 2 goats), and a pull

Items needed: picture of bull, 2 of sheep, 2 of goats – laminated, hole-punch, red twine and blue painters tape, red spray bottle.

As night falls near Jerusalem most people head indoors to bed, all except the shepards. The shepards are still up and even at night they stand guard over their flocks of cattle, sheep and goats. Their job is to watch over them and protect them from wild animals and thieves. The animals were useful for many things but most importantly for God’s people many of these animals were used as sacrifices that they offered up to God as a sign of their desire to repent – turn from their sin and trust in God to save them. God received these offerings in repentance and faith and allowed the Jews to remain His people.

So many bulls, sheep and goats were offered up to God each year that the priests needed special Temple flocks of animals to be kept nearby in the hills of Bethlehem just for Temple sacrifices. Night and day - every day, 2 lambs were brought to the Priests and sacrificed for the sins of God’s people.

And each year for the Day of Atonement the High Priest would offer up the blood of a bull for his sin so he could enter into God’s presence. Then 2 goats were brought to the High Priest. A red thread was tied around the neck of the goat chosen as the people’s sin offering. When that goat was killed its blood was gathered and sprinkled on everything in the Temple. This was a symbol that the Lord counted the blood offering as purifying the things in the Temple of the people’s sin so that God’s presence could continue to dwell among them another year.

The 2^nd goat had a red thread tied around its head and it was chosen to be the scapegoat. The high priest laid his hands on the goat’s head and confessed Israel’s sins and the goat was taken away, outside of town and pushed off a cliff, By its death the Lord counted Israel’s sins as taken away and punished so they could keep worshiping God for another year.

Without the many animals and without the dedicated priests and shepards there would be no sacrifices. But ultimately animal blood could never take away the stain of human sin. Only the perfect blood of a perfect human could be the perfect substitute. This is why God sent Jesus to be born right where the Temple flocks were kept near Bethlehem in a stable because he came to be our perfect sacrifice. That night when God came down to live amongst us the angels appeared to the shepards and announced the birth of Jesus. From that night on Jesus always did what His Father wanted Him to do and He always said what the Father wanted Him to say. He kept God’s Law perfectly and when he offered up His life on the cross as the perfect substitute sin-offering for God’s people, he also became the perfect scapegoat carrying away our sins. When Jesus went back to heaven he also became the perfect High Priest for believers offering up His own perfect blood for sin - this was the final sacrifice – sin and death were conquered by Jesus.

Closing prayer:

Let’s close with prayer:

We thank you Father that you, yourself provided the perfect sacrifice for sin that you required and we needed. We confess that we too are sinners in need of repentance and trust in Jesus. Thank you Christ for giving your life to save your people. We ask that your Spirit works this repentance and trust not only in our lives but the lives of our friends and family. We honor you Lord, thank you. Amen

Audio : Together for the Gospel

Audio : Together for the Gospel

Horton on the Heretic Finney-so good!

The Disturbing Legacy of Charles Finney

by Dr. Michael Horton

No single man is more responsible for the distortion of Christian truth in our age than Charles Grandison Finney. His "new measures" created a framework for modern decision theology and Evangelical Revivalism. In this excellent article, Dr. Mike Horton explains how Charles Finney distorted the important doctrine of salvation.

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Jerry Falwell calls him "one of my heroes and a hero to many evangelicals, including Billy Graham." I recall wandering through the Billy Graham Center some years ago, observing the place of honor given to Charles Finney in the evangelical tradition, reinforced by the first class in theology I had at a Christian college, where Finney’s work was required reading. The New York revivalist was the oft-quoted and celebrated champion of the Christian singer Keith Green and the Youth With A Mission organization. He is particularly esteemed among the leaders of the Christian Right and the Christian Left, by both Jerry Falwell and Jim Wallis (Sojourners’ magazine), and his imprint can be seen in movements that appear to be diverse, but in reality are merely heirs to Finney’s legacy. From the Vineyard movement and the Church Growth Movement to the political and social crusades, televangelism, and the Promise Keepers movement, as a former Wheaton College president rather glowingly cheered, "Finney, lives on!"

That is because Finney’s moralistic impulse envisioned a church that was in large measure an agency of personal and social reform rather than the institution in which the means of grace, Word and Sacrament, are made available to believers who then take the Gospel to the world. In the nineteenth century, the evangelical movement became increasingly identified with political causes-from abolition of slavery and child labor legislation to women’s rights and the prohibition of alcohol. In a desperate effort at regaining this institutional power and the glory of "Christian America" (a vision that is always powerful in the imagination, but, after the disintegration of Puritan New England, elusive), the turn-of-the century Protestant establishment launched moral campaigns to "Americanize" immigrants, enforce moral instruction and "character education." Evangelists pitched their American gospel in terms of its practical usefulness to the individual and the nation.

That is why Finney is so popular. He is the tallest marker in the shift from Reformation orthodoxy, evident in the Great Awakening (under Edwards and Whitefield) to Arminian (indeed, even Pelagian) revivalism. evident from the Second Great Awakening to the present. To demonstrate the debt of modern evangelicalism to Finney, we must first notice his theological departures. From these departures, Finney became the father of the antecedents to some of today’s greatest challenges within evangelical churches, namely, the church growth movement, Pentecostalism and political revivalism.

Who is Finney?

Reacting against the pervasive Calvinism of the Great Awakening, the successors of that great movement of God’s Spirit turned from God to humans, from the preaching of objective content (namely, Christ and him crucified) to the emphasis on getting a person to "make a decision."

Charles Finney (1792-1875) ministered in the wake of the "Second Awakening," as it has been called. A Presbyterian layover, Finney one day experienced "a mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost" which "like a wave of electricity going through and through me ... seemed to come in waves of liquid love." The next morning, he informed his first client of the day, "I have a retainer from the Lord Jesus Christ to plead his cause and I cannot plead yours.” Refusing to attend Princeton Seminary (or any seminary, for that matter). Finney began conducting revivals in upstate New York. One of his most popular sermons was "Sinners Bound to Change Their Own Hearts."

Finney’s one question for any given teaching was, "Is it fit to convert sinners with?" One result of Finney’s revivalism was the division of Presbyterians in Philadelphia and New York into Arminian and Calvinistic factions. His "New Measures" included the "anxious bench" (precursor to today’s altar call), emotional tactics that led to fainting and weeping, and other "excitements," as Finney and his followers called them.

Finney’s Theology?

One need go no further than the table of contents of his Systematic Theology to learn that Finney’s entire theology revolved around human morality. Chapters one through five are on moral government, obligation, and the unity of moral action; chapters six and seven are "Obedience Entire," as chapters eight through fourteen discuss attributes of love, selfishness, and virtues and vice in general. Not until the twenty-first chapter does one read anything that is especially Christian in its interest, on the atonement. This is followed by a discussion of regeneration, repentance, and faith. There is one chapter on justification followed by six on sanctification. In other words, Finney did not really write a Systematic Theology, but a collection of essays on ethics.

But that is not to say that Finney’s Systematic Theology does not contain some significant statements of theology.

First, in answer to the question, "Does a Christian cease to be a Christian, whenever he commits a sin?", Finney answers:

"Whenever he sins, he must, for the time being, cease to be holy. This is self-evident. Whenever he sins, he must be condemned; he must incur the penalty of the law of God ... If it be said that the precept is still binding upon him, but that with respect to the Christian, the penalty is forever set aside, or abrogated, I reply, that to abrogate the penalty is to repeal the precept, for a precept without penalty is no law. It is only counsel or advice. The Christian, therefore, is justified no longer than he obeys, and must be condemned when he disobeys or Antinomianism is true ... In these respects, then, the sinning Christian and the unconverted sinner are upon precisely the same ground (p. 46)."

Finney believed that God demanded absolute perfection, but instead of that leading him to seek his perfect righteousness in Christ, he concluded that "... full present obedience is a condition of justification. But again, to the question, can man be justified while sin remains in him? Surely he cannot, either upon legal or gospel principles, unless the law be repealed ... But can he be pardoned and accepted, and justified, in the gospel sense, while sin, any degree of sin, remains in him? Certainly not" (p. 57).

Finney declares of the Reformation’s formula simul justus et peccator or "simultaneously justified and sinful," "This error has slain more souls, I fear, than all the Universalism that ever cursed the world." For, "Whenever a Christian sins he comes under condemnation, and must repent and do his first works, or be lost" (p.60).

Finney’s doctrine of justification rests upon a denial of the doctrine of original sin. Held by both Roman Catholics and Protestants, this biblical teaching insists that we are all born into this world inheriting Adam’s guilt and corruption. We are, therefore, in bondage to a sinful nature. As someone has said, "We sin because we’re sinners": the condition of sin determines the acts of sin, rather than vice versa. But Finney followed Pelagius, the fifth-century heretic, who was condemned by more church councils than any other person in church history, in denying this doctrine.

Finney believed that human beings were capable of choosing whether they would be corrupt by nature or redeemed, referring to original sin as an "anti-scriptural and nonsensical dogma" (p.179). In clear terms, Finney denied the notion that human beings possess a sinful nature (ibid.). Therefore, if Adam leads us into sin, not by our inheriting his guilt and corruption, but by following his poor example, this leads logically to the view of Christ, the Second Adam, as saving by example. This is precisely where Finney takes it, in his explanation of the atonement.

The first thing we must note about the atonement, Finney says, is that Christ could not have died for anyone else’s sins than his own. His obedience to the law and his perfect righteousness were sufficient to save him, but could not legally be accepted on behalf of others. That Finney’s whole theology is driven by a passion for moral improvement is seen on this very point: "If he [Christ] had obeyed the Law as our substitute, then why should our own return to personal obedience be insisted upon as a sine qua non of our salvation" (p.206)? In other words, why would God insist that we save ourselves by our own obedience if Christ’s work was sufficient? The reader should recall the words of St. Paul in this regard, "I do not nullify the grace of God’, for if justification comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing." It would seem that Finney’s reply is one of agreement. The difference is, he has no difficulty believing both of those premises.

That is not entirely fair, of course, because Finney did believe that Christ died for something—not for someone, but for something. In other words, he died for a purpose, but not for people. The purpose of that death was to reassert God’s moral government and to lead us to eternal life by example, as Adam’s example excited us to sin. Why did Christ die? God knew that "The atonement would present to creatures the highest possible motives to virtue. Example is the highest moral influence that can be exerted ... If the benevolence manifested in the atonement does not subdue the selfishness of sinners, their case is hopeless" (p.209). Therefore, we are not helpless sinners who need to,’ be redeemed, but wayward sinners who need a demonstration of selflessness so moving that we will be excited to leave off selfishness. Not only did Finney believe that the "moral influence" theory of the atonement was the chief way of understanding the cross; he explicitly denied the substitutionary atonement, which "assumes that the atonement was a literal payment of a debt, which we have seen does not consist with the nature of the atonement ... It is true, that the atonement, of itself, does not secure the salvation of any one" (p.217).

Then there is the matter of applying redemption. Throwing off Reformation orthodoxy, Finney argued strenuously against the belief that the new birth is a divine gift, insisting that "regeneration consists in the sinner changing his ultimate choice, intention, preference; or in changing from selfishness to love or benevolence," as moved by the moral influence of Christ’s moving example (p.224). "Original sin, physical regeneration, and all their kindred and resulting dogmas, are alike subversive of the gospel, and repulsive to the human intelligence" (p.236).

Having nothing to do with original sin, a substitutionary atonement, and the supernatural character of the new birth, Finney proceeds to attack "the article by which the church stands or falls"— justification by grace alone through faith alone.

Distorting the Cardinal Doctrine of Justification

The Reformers insisted, on the basis of clear biblical texts, that justification (in the Greek, "to declare righteous," rather than "to make righteous") was a forensic (i.e., legal) verdict. In other words, whereas Rome maintained that justification was a process of making a bad person better, the Reformers argued that it was a declaration or pronouncement that had someone else’s righteousness (i.e., Christ’s) as its basis. Therefore, it was a perfect, once and-for-all verdict of right standing.

This declaration was to be pronounced at the beginning of the Christian life, not in the middle or at the end. The key words in the evangelical doctrine are "forensic" (legal) and "imputation" (crediting one’s account, as opposed to the idea of "infusion" of a righteousness within a person’s soul). Knowing all of this, Finney declares,

"But for sinners to be forensically pronounced just, is impossible and absurd... As we shall see, there are many conditions, while there is but one ground, of the justification of sinners ... As has already been said, there can be no justification in a legal or forensic sense, but upon the ground of universal, perfect, and uninterrupted obedience to law. This is of course denied by those who hold that gospel justification, or the justification of penitent sinners, is of the nature of a forensic or judicial justification. They hold to the legal maxim that what a man does by another he does by himself, and therefore the law regards Christ’s obedience as ours, on the ground that he obeyed for us."

To this, Finney replies: "The doctrine of imputed righteousness, or that Christ’s obedience to the law was accounted as our obedience, is founded on a most false and nonsensical assumption." After all, Christ’s righteousness "could do no more than justify himself. It can never be imputed to us ... it was naturally impossible, then, for him to obey in our behalf " This "representing of the atonement as the ground of the sinner’s justification has been a sad occasion of stumbling to many" (pp.320-2).

The view that faith is the sole condition of justification is "the antinomian view," Finney asserts. "We shall see that perseverance in obedience to the end of life is also a condition of justification. Some theologians have made justification a condition of sanctification, instead of making sanctification a condition of justification. But this we shall see is an erroneous view of the subject." (pp.326-7).

Finney Today

As the noted Princeton theologian B. B. Warfield pointed out so eloquently, there are throughout history only two religions: heathenism, of which Pelagianism is a religious expression, and a supernatural redemption.

With Warfield and those who so seriously warned their brothers and sisters of these errors among Finney and his successors, we too must come to terms with the wildly heterodox strain in American Protestantism. With roots in Finney’s revivalism, perhaps evangelical and liberal Protestantism are not that far apart after all. His "New Measures," like today’s Church Growth Movement, made human choices and emotions the center of the church’s ministry, ridiculed theology, and replaced the preaching of Christ with the preaching of conversion.

It is upon Finney’s naturalistic moralism that the Christian political and social crusades build their faith in humanity and its resources in self-salvation. Sounding not a little like a deist, Finney declared, "There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature. It consists entirely in the right exercise of the powers of nature. It is just that, and nothing else. When mankind becomes truly religious, they are not enabled to put forth exertions which they were unable before to put forth. They only exert powers which they had before, in a different way, and use them for the glory of God." As the new birth is a natural phenomenon for Finney, so too a revival: "A revival is not a miracle, nor dependent on a miracle, in any sense. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the constituted means—as much so as any other effect produced by the application of means."

The belief that the new birth and revival depend necessarily on divine activity is pernicious. "No doctrine," he says, "is more dangerous than this to the prosperity of the Church, and nothing more absurd" (Revivals of Religion [Revell], pp.4-5).

When the leaders of the Church Growth Movement claim that theology gets in the way of growth and insist that it does not matter what a particular church believes: growth is a matter of following the proper principles, they are displaying their debt to Finney.

When leaders of the Vineyard movement praise this sub-Christian enterprise and the barking, roaring, screaming, laughing, and other strange phenomena on the basis that "it works" and one must judge its truth by its fruit, they are following Finney as well as the father of American pragmatism, William James, who declared that truth must be judged on the basis of "its cash-value in experiential terms."

Thus, in Finney’s theology, God is not sovereign, man is not a sinner by nature, the atonement is not a true payment for sin, justification by imputation is insulting to reason and morality, the new birth is simply the effect of successful techniques, and revival is a natural result of clever campaigns. In his fresh introduction to the bicentennial edition of Finney’s Systematic Theology, Harry Conn commends Finney’s pragmatism: "Many servants of our Lord should be diligently searching for a gospel that ‘works’, and I am happy to state they can find it in this volume."

As Whitney R. Cross has carefully documented, the stretch of territory in which Finney’s revivals were most frequent was also the cradle of the perfectionistic cults that plagued that century. A gospel that "works" for zealous perfectionists one moment merely creates tomorrow’s disillusioned and spent supersaints. Needless to say, Finney’s message is radically different from the evangelical faith, as is the basic orientation of the movements we see around us today that bear his imprint such as: revivalism (or its modern label. the Church Growth Movement), or Pentecostal perfectionism and emotionalism, or political triumphalism based on the ideal of "Christian America," or the anti-intellectual, and anti-doctrinal tendencies of many American evangelicals and fundamentalists.

Not only did the revivalist abandon the doctrine of justification, making him a renegade against evangelical Christianity; he repudiated doctrines, such as original sin and the substitutionary atonement, that have been embraced by Roman Catholics and Protestants alike. Therefore, Finney is not merely an Arminian’, but a Pelagian. He is not only an enemy of evangelical Protestantism, but of historic Christianity of the broadest sort.

Of one thing Finney was absolutely correct: The Gospel held by the Reformers whom he attacked directly, and indeed held by the whole company of evangelicals, is "another gospel" in distinction from the one proclaimed by Charles Finney. The question of our moment is, With which gospel will we side?

(Reprinted by permission from Modern Reformation.)

Unless otherwise specified, all quotes are from Charles G. Finney, Finney’s Systematic Theology (Bethany, 1976).

Dr. Michael S. Horton is Member of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals and cohost of the popular White Horse Inn radio program.

Dr. Warren stated on May 23, 2005, at the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life: “The word ‘fundamentalist’ actually comes from a document in the 1920s called the Five Fundamentals of the Faith. And it is a very legalistic, narrow view of Christianity.”

The five fundamentals of the faith to which Dr. Warren objected are:

1. The inerrancy and full authority of the Bible
2. The virgin birth and full Deity of Jesus Christ
3. The bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead
4.    Christ’s atoning, vicarious death for the sins of the world
5. The literal second coming of Jesus Christ

Are we to believe that Christians who hold to these basic foundational doctrines of the Christian faith are narrow and legalistic?

According to the New Testament definition, those who believe otherwise are not Christians.

has false teacher Tricky Rick Warren invaded the leadership of your chuch?

Dr. Rick Warren, author of "The Purpose Driven Church" and "The Purpose Driven Life" has boasted: "When you reveal the vision to the church, the old pillars are going to leave. But let them leave... they only hold things up."

 

Dr. Warren is right in one way. It is the senior members of the church who do indeed hold a church up and keep it from falling into apostasy. While some PDC initiators may not implement the full PDC format, generally, these are the signs that your church is targeted for a Purpose Driven Church format:

 

1. Change in music to a contemporary rock style.

2. Removal of hymn books; eliminating the choir.

3. Replacement of organ and piano with heavy metal instruments.

4. Repetitive singing of praise lyrics.

5. Dressing down to casual and informal attire.

6. Eliminating of business meetings, church committees, council of elders, board of deacons, etc.

7. The pastor, or a new leader with a few assistants, usually four, takes charge of all church business.

8. A repetitive 40-day Purpose Driven Church study program stressing psychological relationships with each other, the community, or the

     world, begins.

9. Funded budgeted programs are abandoned, or ignored, with ambiguous financial reports made.

10. Sunday morning, evening, and/or Wednesday prayer meetings are changed to other times; some may even be eliminated.

11. Sunday School teachers are moved to different classes, or replaced by new teachers more sympathetic with the changes being

       implemented.

12. The name "Sunday School" is dropped and classes are given new names.

13. Crosses and other traditional Christian symbols may be moved from both the inside and outside of the church buildings. The pulpit

       may also be removed.

14. In accordance with Dr. Warren’s instructions, new version Bibles are used; or only verses flashed on a screen are referenced during

       regular services.

15. Purpose Driven Church films, purchased from Saddleback, precede or are used during regular services.

16. The decor, including the carpets, may be changed to eliminate any resemblance to the former church.

17. The word "church" is often taken from the name of the church, and the church may be called a "campus". Denominational names

       may also be removed.

18. An emphasis on more fun and party sessions for the youth.

19. Elimination of altar calls or salvation invitations at the close of the services.

20. The elimination of such words as "unsaved", "lost", "sin", "Hell", "Heaven" and other Gospel verities from the pastor’s messages.

21. The reclassification of the saved and lost to the "churched" and the "unchurched".

22. The marginalizing, or ostracizing, of all who are not avid promoters of the new Purpose Driven Program.

23. Closed meetings between the pastor or chosen staff members without any reports made to the general membership.

24. Open hostility to members who do not openly embrace the new program, or who may have left for another church.

Question: "What is the true gospel?"

Answer: The true gospel is the good news that God saves sinners. Man is by nature sinful and separated from God with no hope of remedying that situation. But God, by His power, provided the means of man’s redemption in the death, burial and resurrection of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

The word “gospel” literally means “good news.” But to truly comprehend how good this news is, we must first understand the bad news. As a result of the fall of man in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:6), every part of man—his mind, will, emotions and flesh—have been corrupted by sin. Because of man’s sinful nature, he does not and cannot seek God. He has no desire to come to God and, in fact, his mind is hostile toward God (Romans 8:7). God has declared that man’s sin dooms him to an eternity in hell, separated from God. It is in hell that man pays the penalty of sin against a holy and righteous God. This would be bad news indeed if there were no remedy.

But in the gospel, God, in His mercy, has provided that remedy, a substitute for us—Jesus Christ—who came to pay the penalty for our sin by His sacrifice on the cross. This is the essence of the gospel which Paul preached to the Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 15:2-4, he explains the three elements of the gospel—the death, burial and resurrection of Christ on our behalf. Our old nature died with Christ on the cross and was buried with Him. Then we were resurrected with Him to a new life (Romans 6:4-8). Paul tells us to “hold firmly” to this true gospel, the only one which saves. Believing in any other gospel is to believe in vain. In Romans 1:16-17, Paul also declares that the true gospel is the “power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes” by which he means that salvation is not achieved by man’s efforts, but by the grace of God through the gift of faith (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Because of the gospel, through the power of God, those who believe in Christ (Romans 10:9) are not just saved from hell. We are, in fact, given a completely new nature (2 Corinthians 5:17) with a changed heart and a new desire, will, and attitude that are manifested in good works. This is the fruit the Holy Spirit produces in us by His power. Works are never the means of salvation, but they are the proof of it (Ephesians 2:10). Those who are saved by the power of God will always show the evidence of salvation by a changed life.

the real sinner's prayer!

    He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous(this is the key point to proper interpretation), and treated others with contempt:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’

But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

I tell you, this man went down to his house justified (justification, saved, salvation), rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”
   
(Luke 18:9-14 ESV)

the sinners prayer?

Question: "What is the prayer of salvation?"

Answer: Many people ask, “Is there a prayer I can pray that will guarantee my salvation?” It is important to remember that salvation is not received by reciting a prayer or uttering certain words. The Bible nowhere records a person’s receiving salvation by a prayer. Saying a prayer is not the biblical way of salvation.

The biblical method of salvation is faith in Jesus Christ. John 3:16 tells us, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” Salvation is gained by faith (Ephesians 2:8), by receiving Jesus as Savior (John 1:12), and by fully trusting Jesus alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), not by reciting a prayer.

The biblical message of salvation is simple and clear and amazing at the same time. We have all committed sin against God (Romans 3:23). Other than Jesus Christ, there is no one who has lived an entire life without sinning (Ecclesiastes 7:20). Because of our sin, we have earned judgment from God (Romans 6:23), and that judgment is physical death followed by spiritual death. Because of our sin and its deserved punishment, there is nothing we can do on our own to make ourselves right with God. As a result of His love for us, God became a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ. Jesus lived a perfect life and always taught the truth. However, humanity rejected Jesus and put Him to death by crucifying Him. Through that horrible act, though, Jesus died in our place. Jesus took the burden and judgment of sin on Himself, and He died in our place (2 Corinthians 5:21). Jesus was then resurrected (1 Corinthians 15), proving that His payment for sin was sufficient and that He had overcome sin and death. As a result of Jesus’ sacrifice, God offers us salvation as a gift. God calls us all to change our minds about Jesus (Acts 17:30) and to receive Him as the full payment of our sins (1 John 2:2). Salvation is gained by receiving the gift God offers us, not by praying a prayer.

Now, that does not mean prayer cannot be involved in receiving salvation. If you understand the gospel, believe it to be true, and have accepted Jesus as your salvation, it is good and appropriate to express that faith to God in prayer. Communicating with God through prayer can be a way to progress from accepting facts about Jesus to fully trusting in Him as Savior. Prayer can be connected to the act of placing your faith in Jesus alone for salvation.

Again, though, it is crucially important that you do not base your salvation on having said a prayer. Reciting a prayer cannot save you! If you want to receive the salvation that is available through Jesus, place your faith in Him. Fully trust His death as the sufficient sacrifice for your sins. Completely rely on Him alone as your Savior. That is the biblical method of salvation. If you have received Jesus as your Savior, by all means, say a prayer to God. Tell God how thankful you are for Jesus. Offer praise to God for His love and sacrifice. Thank Jesus for dying for your sins and providing salvation for you. That is the biblical connection between salvation and prayer.

i wouldn't rest my salvation on it, but good to know...

Question: "Did Jesus really exist? Is there any historical evidence of Jesus Christ?"

Answer: Typically, when this question is asked, the person asking qualifies the question with “outside of the Bible.” We do not grant this idea that the Bible cannot be considered a source of evidence for the existence of Jesus. The New Testament contains hundreds of references to Jesus Christ. There are those who date the writing of the Gospels to the second century A.D., more than 100 years after Jesus' death. Even if this were the case (which we strongly dispute), in terms of ancient evidences, writings less than 200 years after events took place are considered very reliable evidences. Further, the vast majority of scholars (Christian and non-Christian) will grant that the Epistles of Paul (at least some of them) were in fact written by Paul in the middle of the first century A.D., less than 40 years after Jesus' death. In terms of ancient manuscript evidence, this is extraordinarily strong proof of the existence of a man named Jesus in Israel in the early first century A.D.

It is also important to recognize that in A.D. 70, the Romans invaded and destroyed Jerusalem and most of Israel, slaughtering its inhabitants. Entire cities were literally burned to the ground. We should not be surprised, then, if much evidence of Jesus' existence was destroyed. Many of the eyewitnesses of Jesus would have been killed. These facts likely limited the amount of surviving eyewitness testimony of Jesus.

Considering that Jesus' ministry was largely confined to a relatively unimportant area in a small corner of the Roman Empire, a surprising amount of information about Jesus can be drawn from secular historical sources. Some of the more important historical evidences of Jesus include the following:

The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious “Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44).

Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian. In his Antiquities he refers to James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” There is a controversial verse (18:3) that says, “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats....He was [the] Christ...he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.” One version reads, “At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18).

Pliny the Younger, in Letters 10:96, recorded early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and he includes a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper.

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy.

Lucian of Samosata was a second-century Greek writer who admits that Jesus was worshiped by Christians, introduced new teachings, and was crucified for them. He said that Jesus' teachings included the brotherhood of believers, the importance of conversion, and the importance of denying other gods. Christians lived according to Jesus’ laws, believed themselves to be immortal, and were characterized by contempt for death, voluntary self-devotion, and renunciation of material goods.

Mara Bar-Serapion confirms that Jesus was thought to be a wise and virtuous man, was considered by many to be the king of Israel, was put to death by the Jews, and lived on in the teachings of His followers.

Then we have all the Gnostic writings (The Gospel of Truth, The Apocryphon of John, The Gospel of Thomas, The Treatise on Resurrection, etc.) that all mention Jesus.

In fact, we can almost reconstruct the gospel just from early non-Christian sources: Jesus was called the Christ (Josephus), did “magic,” led Israel into new teachings, and was hanged on Passover for them (Babylonian Talmud) in Judea (Tacitus), but claimed to be God and would return (Eliezar), which his followers believed, worshipping Him as God (Pliny the Younger).

There is overwhelming evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, both in secular and biblical history. Perhaps the greatest evidence that Jesus did exist is the fact that literally thousands of Christians in the first century A.D., including the twelve apostles, were willing to give their lives as martyrs for Jesus Christ.

Psalm 22

    My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
        Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
    O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,
        and by night, but I find no rest.
    Yet you are holy,
        enthroned on the praises of Israel.
    In you our fathers trusted;
        they trusted, and you delivered them.
    To you they cried and were rescued;
        in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
    But I am a worm and not a man,
        scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
    All who see me mock me;
        they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
    “He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
        let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
    Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
        you made me trust you at my mother's breasts.
    On you was I cast from my birth,
        and from my mother's womb you have been my God.
    Be not far from me,
        for trouble is near,
        and there is none to help.
    Many bulls encompass me;
        strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
    they open wide their mouths at me,
        like a ravening and roaring lion.
    I am poured out like water,
        and all my bones are out of joint;
    my heart is like wax;
        it is melted within my breast;
    my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
        and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
        you lay me in the dust of death.
    For dogs encompass me;
        a company of evildoers encircles me;
    they have pierced my hands and feet—
    I can count all my bones—
    they stare and gloat over me;
    they divide my garments among them,
        and for my clothing they cast lots.
    But you, O LORD, do not be far off!
        O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
    Deliver my soul from the sword,
        my precious life from the power of the dog!
        Save me from the mouth of the lion!
    You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
    I will tell of your name to my brothers;
        in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
    You who fear the LORD, praise him!
        All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
        and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!
    For he has not despised or abhorred
        the affliction of the afflicted,
    and he has not hidden his face from him,
        but has heard, when he cried to him.
    From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
        my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
    The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
        those who seek him shall praise the LORD!
        May your hearts live forever!
    All the ends of the earth shall remember
        and turn to the LORD,
    and all the families of the nations
        shall worship before you.
    For kingship belongs to the LORD,
        and he rules over the nations.
    All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
        before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
        even the one who could not keep himself alive.
    Posterity shall serve him;
        it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
    they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
        that he has done it.
(Psalm 22 ESV)

Isaiah 52-53

    Awake, awake,
        put on your strength, O Zion;
    put on your beautiful garments,
        O Jerusalem, the holy city;
    for there shall no more come into you
        the uncircumcised and the unclean.
    Shake yourself from the dust and arise;
        be seated, O Jerusalem;
    loose the bonds from your neck,
        O captive daughter of Zion.
    For thus says the LORD: “You were sold for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money.” For thus says the Lord GOD: “My people went down at the first into Egypt to sojourn there, and the Assyrian oppressed them for nothing. Now therefore what have I here,” declares the LORD, “seeing that my people are taken away for nothing? Their rulers wail,” declares the LORD, “and continually all the day my name is despised. Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”
    How beautiful upon the mountains
        are the feet of him who brings good news,
    who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
        who publishes salvation,
        who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
    The voice of your watchmen—they lift up their voice;
        together they sing for joy;
    for eye to eye they see
        the return of the LORD to Zion.
    Break forth together into singing,
        you waste places of Jerusalem,
    for the LORD has comforted his people;
        he has redeemed Jerusalem.
    The LORD has bared his holy arm
        before the eyes of all the nations,
    and all the ends of the earth shall see
        the salvation of our God.
    Depart, depart, go out from there;
        touch no unclean thing;
    go out from the midst of her; purify yourselves,
        you who bear the vessels of the LORD.
    For you shall not go out in haste,
        and you shall not go in flight,
    for the LORD will go before you,
        and the God of Israel will be your rear guard.
    Behold, my servant shall act wisely;
        he shall be high and lifted up,
        and shall be exalted.
    As many were astonished at you—
        his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,
        and his form beyond that of the children of mankind—
    so shall he sprinkle many nations;
        kings shall shut their mouths because of him;
    for that which has not been told them they see,
        and that which they have not heard they understand.
    Who has believed what he has heard from us?
        And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
    For he grew up before him like a young plant,
        and like a root out of dry ground;
    he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
        and no beauty that we should desire him.
    He was despised and rejected by men;
        a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
    and as one from whom men hide their faces
        he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
    Surely he has borne our griefs
        and carried our sorrows;
    yet we esteemed him stricken,
        smitten by God, and afflicted.
    But he was pierced for our transgressions;
        he was crushed for our iniquities;
    upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
        and with his wounds we are healed.
    All we like sheep have gone astray;
        we have turned—every one—to his own way;
    and the LORD has laid on him
        the iniquity of us all.
    He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
        yet he opened not his mouth;
    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
        and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
        so he opened not his mouth.
    By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
        and as for his generation, who considered
    that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
        stricken for the transgression of my people?
    And they made his grave with the wicked
        and with a rich man in his death,
    although he had done no violence,
        and there was no deceit in his mouth.
    Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
        he has put him to grief;
    when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
        he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
    the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
    Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
    by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
        make many to be accounted righteous,
        and he shall bear their iniquities.
    Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
        and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
    because he poured out his soul to death
        and was numbered with the transgressors;
    yet he bore the sin of many,
        and makes intercession for the transgressors.
(Isaiah 52-53 ESV)

A Carl Truman-ism from T4G 2012

"I'm a big fan of denominational splits.....because it means that someone somewhere is standing up for something."

For me, I came out of a church that worshiped ecumenical-ism, that would tolerate any idea or opinion or doctrine or teaching - even heresy, from the pulpit stage or classroom. And I can personally tell you that nothing in the church can be more passively damning than the meaningless moralism of this vanilla yogurt religion, no distinctives, no creeds, no confessions, no doctrines - no flavor!

why I can't be...

I can't be an atheist because there are hypocritical atheists
I can't be an agnostic because there are hypocritical agnostics
I can't be an emergent because there are hypocritical emergents
I can't be a main-line liberal because there are hypocritical main-line liberals
I can't be a democrat or a republican because there are hypocritical demo-licans and republi-crats...

That just about covers everyone who ever gave me crap about not being able to trust in Christ because of this most lame and retarded (no offense to the retarded) excuse. It reminds me there is a famous skeptics quote that says - "if I can doubt it, I will". If you hear this stupid excuse its because the person saying it basically - doesn't want to think.

Why not, I can't be a human because there are such things as hypocritical humans or certainly I can't be on Earth because there are such things as hypocritical Earthlings.

Just think about it, this isn't a reason - its a mental fart!

Potential Church / Potential Theft!

Did Troy Gramling completely STEAL his terrible Easter sermon group-therapy session from Beth Moore's terrible Book:

Get Out of that Pit

Straight Talk about God's Deliverance

Check out: http://www.discerningreader.com/book-reviews/get-out-of-that-pit
for the full review of Beth Moore's Pit book and the same points used by Troy Gramling for Pitology 

Discerning Reader Editorial Review

Reviewed 08/30/2007 by Leslie Wiggins.

Not Recommended. Though not without value, this book is long on popular psychology and short on sound theology.

"It takes one to know one."  Isn't that what we said  in retaliation to a schoolyard taunt?  Yet Beth Moore turns the phrase, using it to imbibe hope in those Christians who are  "living" in pits.  Having lived so much of her life in one pit after another, it is her pleasure and passion to show other pit-dwellers the way out of their own personal pits in her latest book, Get Out of that Pit: Straight Talk about God's Deliverance.

In a very interesting and gutsy move, the foreword is penned by the one man who knows the real woman, Beth Moore: her husband, Keith.  Without a doubt, after more than 25 years of marriage, he alone is qualified to attest to the genuineness of her freedom from the pit.  Sure, they could be in collusion with one another to validate her credibility on the subject of pit-dwelling and finding freedom in order to sell books, but I doubt it.  When he writes that "she's no phony," I believe him.  This book is replete with words of affection for Jesus and one another; it's sweeter than cotton candy.  Not to mention the romance she speaks of having with Jesus, the love and admiration she and Keith have for one another is the kind of relationship married women dream of having with their spouses.  If you've ever met her, which I have (though I don't count on her recalling it), or participated in one of her video studies, then you'd want what she has with Jesus, too.  And, no doubt, many women have already turned to this book and her studies to help them do that.

As with her Bible studies and other books, Moore shares so much of herself that the reader feels like Beth is her new best friend.  She seems willing to share anything if it would help another sister experience freedom in Christ.  Yet all of her anecdotes seemed to slow things down.  For example, in the opening chapter, she wants to drive home the point that we can be so accustomed to pit-dwelling that we don't notice that we are living in a pit.  Then, she goes on for about two pages about how she and Keith love traveling.  It is a rather humorous point as RV-ing relates to pit-dwelling, but I had to backtrack a bit to bring it together.  This happens in almost every chapter.  My favorite, though, has to be the story regarding her golf lessons. As I read this hilarious tale, I wondered how it would make sense and relate to co-dependency.  It gets there eventually, but reaching the destination takes a little longer due to all the rabbit trails.  This is just personal preference, but I like points to be driven home with a little more force and razor-sharpness.  She is funny and so very likable, which makes it quite difficult to come to the reasons why I cannot recommend her book....

my teaching on Colossians 4:5-9

Col 4:5-9

First Pray –

Have someone pray for us to be ready to hear God’s Word.

Then Story –

People in more Liberal or Emergent churches prefer what’s called Narrative Theology (think stories with a moral point like Aesop’s Fables) over learning what they would call stale, old doctrines. So, to start us off I’m gonna tell you the beginning of 1 of my favorite stories and we’ll come back to it later when we’re done looking at Colossians 4 together, okay?

Once upon a time, long ago, far from here, there once was a wealth man named Phil. And Phil was so well off that he could afford both a large home and slaves. Now Phil had one slave that he thought so little of that he merely called him – Useful. Just think about the life Useful must have lived. “Useful, take out my trash. Useful, wash my car. Useful, make my dinner.” On your worst day at home (or work) you probably wouldn’t want to trade places with the slave Useful. But one day Useful finally got fed up and Useful stole some of Phil’s money and (he ran away to the nation’s capitol, where he thought he could blend in with other people like him, where people wouldn’t care what he used to be, or where he had came from, or what he had done, where he could just forget the past and start over. Now that’s what Useful wanted, but God had other plans for him…

So we’ll come back to that story later.

Nichole will you read Colossians 4:2-9 for us

If you remember Colossians 3:2 said this, “Set you mind on things that are above, not on things that are on Earth.” Now, there are 2 primary ways that will focus your mind on things that are above. The first is prayer, which Doug covered last week and the second is John-the-Baptist-ing (If you’re unfamiliar with that term it’s basically the verb form of John the Baptist). Both in Scripture and in Theology John is really important for 1 main reason: it’s not immersion, it’s not his preaching style, and it’s not his hygiene or his diet. John first and foremost pointed other people to Christ. Let’s look at just a couple of passages from John (1:25-34 & 3:28- 36). And really think about what has stopped you from speaking out about Christ to unbelievers?

I tend to imagine worst case scenarios so I seem to think that I’m gonna run into an Atheist debater like Christopher Hitchens and loose an argument, or run into an Evolutionary biologist and not remember the difference between Micro and Macro Evolution or run into theoretical physicist Steven Hawking and have to argue against String theory, 1-way time travel and the Multiverse. When really all we’re called to do is to point other sinners to their need for a Savior. Anyone have thoughts or questions on that?

Paul asks that we pray that a door of opportunity be opened for us to proclaim Salvation by Grace through Faith to outsiders (Paul’s term for unbelievers). Also we are called to live out our lives in such a way as to not hurt the creditability of our faith and witness.

Can you think of any examples where sin has ruined the witness of a supposed Christian preacher?

A couple that I remember would be, if your familiar with Paul and Jan Crouch founders of the TBN network on cable, then you may also be aware that his granddaughter and his family and their attorneys are in a court case regarding the misuse of $50 million dollars in church funds. When speaking of his own granddaughter, Paul Crouch lumped her into the few people who would dare to question or stand up against TBN, he then threatened her life on TV and then turned right around asked for donations or “seed money” for his ministry, to quote Paul Crouch, “God help anyone who would try to get in the way of TBN…I have attended the funerals of at least 2 people who tried.” Then seconds later, “Anyone have a need? Plant a seed. Get to a phone.”

Or if you’ve ever heard of the Florida Outpouring which is referring to claimed miracles of the Holy Spirit that happened while Canadian charismatic Todd Bentley preached the Lakeland Revivals down in Florida several years ago, it came out later that the whole time Todd was preaching that people needed to have faith that they would receive miracles, healings and a special anointing of God just like he had, he was at the same time committing adultery with his own church intern – Jessa. All I’m saying is that you need to be careful; the world is always going to judge a self-proclaimed believer harsher than they would themselves.

Now back to Colossians, I thought it was interesting that Paul uses 2 particular words to describe how we should talk to unbelievers. The first is gracious – which most people would take as meaning nice, polite or friendly but can also refer to content as in speaking of Grace with unbelievers. The other is salt – and Jesus uses salt in Matthew 5 as a description for the disciples on how their message and ministry acts as a moral preservative. There are probably several political issues that you can think of in which the religious conservatives are the only ones trying to keep our society back from the edge of absolute Moral abandon. The anything goes mentality.

Then into Philemon

The next couple of people that Paul introduces us to are Tychicus & Onesimus.

Tychicus was a gentile convert to Christianity, he was one of the Gentile representatives at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 20, and he was a trusted companion of Paul’s and he personally delivered the NT books of Ephesians, Colossians and Philemon. Tychicus’ traveling companion to Colossae was Onesimus.

And here’s where our intro story ties back in, the book of Philemon is a great tale of forgiveness, Christian fellowship and the sovereignty of God in which a wealthy, Christian slave-owner who hosted the Colossae church in his own house, once had a slaved named Onesimus (or Useful in Greek) who had stolen some money from Philemon and ran away to Rome where in the sovereignty of God he happened to meet Paul. Now it also happened that Paul was the means that God used to convert Philemon to Christianity back in Ephesus, so after awhile-in Rome Onesimus was also converted and became extremely useful to Paul while imprisoned. You have to remember that being a run-away slave in the Roman Empire was a capitol offense and Onesimus could have been rightly or justly murdered for his crime yet Paul writes to Philemon to act out the Gospel. Paul says in Philemon verse 11, he who was once “Useless” to you has now become “Useful” (or Onesimus) to us both. Paul asks Philemon to not only to forgive Onesimus’ sin but also to accept him as a fellow brother in the faith.

Something else to remember about Onesimus’ story is that Church History (mainly Ignatius of Antioch) says that this same run-away slave grows up to become the next Bishop over the churches around Ephesus after Timothy (from 1 & 2). Onesimus who once was considered not even a human being by the Roman government by a piece of Philemon’s property like a couch or a coffee mug, Onesimus who’s crime legally deserved death, who ran from Turkey to Rome to get away from Philemon just to have God convert him and send him right back, this Useful companion to Paul not only becomes a member of his slave-masters church but becomes the Bishop of Ephesus, which remember is where his master was once converted through Paul’s Gospel preaching.

Application-

Now we know that Scripture says Salvation is a gift of God and not by our works so we know we’re not going to hear God say to us you Earned your Salvation but if would be nice to hear you were Useful to me and Useful to the spread of the Gospel. Remember the world is changed, lives are changed, slaves are set free, and slave-masters hearts are softened in kindness and forgiveness…but only when the Gospel is boldly proclaimed to sinners who often have no idea that they even need a Savior.

Confession-

It would be easy for me to sit back and exhort you to do evangelism when I’m scarred to do it myself but because Colossians makes it so clear that my ultimate needs (acceptance, love, family) are already mine “in Christ” that frees me from being so scared of being humiliated and enables me to point others toward Christ. So you will actually see me confront my biggest fear in the next month here at church.

End with another prayer -

Sovereign Lord, we come to petition you to grant us the ability to honor and worship you with our lives. And gift us with both the opportunity and the courage to point sinners to their need for a Savior, may it be often be that Grace in Christ be found on our lips when we are speaking to both fellow believers and outsiders. We praise you, Father. Amen.

Reformed Baptist Fellowship

Saved by His Precious Blood

When the Calvinist sings,

“There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all;
He died the we might be forgiven,
He died to make us good;
That we might go at last to Heaven,
Saved by His precious blood.”

he means it. He will not gloss the italicized statements by saying that God’s saving purpose in the death of His Son was a mere ineffectual wish, depending for its fulfillment on man’s willingness to believe, so that for all God could do Christ might have died and none been saved at all. He insists that the Bible sees the Cross as revealing God’s power to save, not His impotence. Christ did not win a hypothetical salvation for hypothetical believers, a mere possibility of salvation for any who might possibly believe, but a real salvation for His own chosen people. His precious blood really does “save us all”; the intended effects of His self-offering do in fact follow, just because the Cross was what it was. Its saving power does not depend on faith being added to it; its saving power is such that faith flows from it. The Cross secured the full salvation of all for whom Christ died. “God forbid,” therefore, “that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (J.I. Packer, In My Place Condemned He Stood – Celebrating the Glory of the Atonement, pp.122-123)

quoting Jesus

God the Father, is not an Arminian.
I'm not an Arminian.
And you shouldn't be an Arminian either.
- Jesus

[full disclosure - this Jesus (pronounced Hey-Zeus) is a friend of mine
from work; he's of Latin American decent]

Yahweh

Man is saved by a Free-Will decision, mine.

- GOD

Not Satire! God hating, Christ dishonoring church at it again,

CHURCH OF THE ROCK  - Winnipeg, Manitoba

BATMAN: THE DARK NIGHT – AN EASTER STORY

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Mark Hughes

Easter at the Rock can only be described as an extraordinary experience.  On Good Friday we do a worshipful and ‘almost’ traditional service centered around the passion of the Christ and His cross.  It is beautiful, touching and meaningful.  Easter, however, is something all together different.  It has always been about celebration and joy… for Christ has risen.  But nobody on the planet does it quite like Church of the Rock.  We have taken the amazing story of the resurrection and have presented it in modern parable form that can only be described as ‘Hollywood does Easter’.  Donning sets, costumes and a home grown script written by ‘yours truly’ we have had some of Hollywood’s finest masquerading as the Christ.  In The Wrath of Khan it was Captain Kirk who died and rose again.  The next year it was Captain Jack Saviour (Sparrow) in the Pirates of the Galilean.  I appeared as the villain Captain Barabbas (Barbossa).

Last year it was Westley from the Princess Bride of Christ.  I did a cameo as Miracle Max and if you are watching on television this Easter Sunday you will catch at least a  snippet of my performance doing the memorable “he’s only mostly dead” scene.   One year I did my best impression of Michael Jackson in Robin of the Hood.

This year we are pulling out all the stops and doing Batman: The Dark Night.  The Caped Crusader along with Robin the Boy Wonder will be arriving in the Batmobile.  I will be making the requisite cameo, but I am afraid at this writing, that information is top secret.

If you are from out of town and ever wanted to come to a Church of the Rock service, Easter is the one to come to.  If you had to drive half way across the country, I guarantee it would still be worth it.  We have some immensely talented singers, actors and musicians that bring the resurrection story to life.  Last year we had 4,000 people show up for our three services so you have to come early to get a good seat.   We made a simple little advertisement.  Here it is, have a look and we’ll see you Easter morning.

Canada (R3T 1L6) 
FEEL FREE TO CALL - Toll Free 1-877-700-ROCK (7625) AND LET THEM KNOW WHY
BATMAN THE DARK KNIGHT ISN'T THE MESSAGE OF EASTER, AND THIS CIRCUS OF A CHURCH ISN'T A METHOD OF RESPECT THAT SOMEONE WHO WAS ACTUALLY A CHILD OF GOD WOULD USE TO HONOR THEIR SAVIOR.

ALSO APPARENTLY THEY ARE MISINFORMED REGARDING WHO DIED FOR THEIR SINS: NO FALSE-CHURCH IT WASN'T WESTLEY, KIRK OR JACK SPARROW AND IT CERTAINLY ISN'T BATMAN. 

the 3 Valid uses of the Law!

The Lawful Uses of God’s Law

In Reformed Baptist Fellowship on Friday, March 30, 2012 at 2:32 pm

In 1 Tim. 1, Paul urges Timothy to “charge some that they teach no other doctrine” (v.3). He then indicates the nature of their error in v.7, “desiring to be teachers of the law, understanding neither what they say nor the things which they affirm.”  The heretics desired to be “teachers of the law” but distorted the truth.  In v.8, Paul makes a statement for our consideration:  “But we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully.”  The Reformed confessions of faith summarize the biblical teaching concerning the use of God’s law which is a helpful corrective to the antinomian and legalistic tendencies in the church today, two tendencies which have the same enemy:  the law of God.
The first is the civil use.  Richard A. Muller defines it as “the political or civil use, according to which the law serves the commonwealth, or body politic, as a force for the restraint of sin.”[1]  The LBCF of 1689 teaches that the law written in the heart of man at creation was “delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments” (19:2) and then states that this “moral law doth for ever bind all, as we justified persons as others, to the obedience thereof, and that not only in regard of the matter contained in it, but also in respect of God the Creator, who gave it; neither doth Christ in the Gospel any way dissolve, but much strengthen this obligation.”  The law is used by God for the restraint of His creatures.
The second is the pedagogical use.  Muller defines it as “the elenctical or pedagogical use; i.e., the use of the law for the confrontation and refutation of sin and for the purpose of pointing the way to Christ.”[2]  This function of the law demonstrates man’s sinfulness and shows his need for Christ.  Paul indicates this in Rom 3:20, “Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” WLC #96 says, “What particular use is there of the moral law to unregenerate men?  The moral law is of use to unregenerate men, to awaken their consciences to flee from wrath to come, and to drive them to Christ; or, upon their continuance in the estate and way of sin, to leave them inexcusable, and under the curse thereof.”
The third is the normative use.  Muller defines it as the use that “pertains to believers in Christ who have been saved through faith apart from works.  In the regenerate life, the law no longer functions to condemn, since it no longer stands elenctically over against man as the unreachable basis for salvation, but acts as a norm of conduct, freely accepted by those in whom the grace of God works the good.”[3]  The LBCF of 1689 amplifies this use in 19:6 and indicates that while the law is no longer binding as a covenant of works, it “is of great use to them [believers] as well as to others” in that it functions as a “rule of life.”  John Murray observed concerning this use, “It is symptomatic of a pattern of thought current in many evangelical circles that the idea of keeping the commandments of God is not consonant with the liberty and spontaneity of the Christian man, that keeping the law has its affinities with legalism and with the principle of works rather than with the principle of grace.  It is strange indeed that this kind of antipathy to the notion of keeping commandments should be entertained by any believer who is a serious student of the New Testament.  Did not our Lord say, ‘If ye love Me, ye will keep My commandments’ (John 14:15).”[4]
Problems regarding the law are manifold in the church today.  A return to the Reformed confessions and an emphasis on covenant theology should prove a helpful corrective in this area of study.  J. Gresham Machen said, “A new and more powerful proclamation of that law is perhaps the most pressing need of the hour; men would have little difficulty with the gospel if they had only learned the lesson of law…So it always is:  a low view of the law always brings legalism in religion; a high view of law makes a man a seeker after grace.  Pray God that the high view may again prevail.”[5]
Jim Butler, Pastor