Songs, fellowship, big dinners, sweet words, beautiful liturgies, the holiday season was upon us! What joy, what merriment, entire towns were dressed up to reflect the pervasive spirit of celebration. Hot chocolate, fresh baked cookies, warm fireplaces, warmer friendships, praise the Lord for our ability to celebrate Him so. In reflecting on our celebration, let us look at the gift of salvation and remember what made that celebration so sweet; and perhaps be encouraged to deliver the gift to others this year.

It seems simple enough to say, “Christ died for our sins” and there we have it, nutcracker done, shell removed, and on to enjoying the sweet meat. Yet I would submit that by doing this, we lose so much of the context that makes this gift wonderful beyond comparison. It is as though I walked up to you on the street and said, “Hey! Congratulations, Mr. Smith just paid your $15,000.00 speeding fine. You do not have to be concerned about that anymore.”

You are probably going to look at me funny and be offended that I would even suggest you had such a speeding fine, never mind the fact that I claim someone you do not know paid it for you. Yet, if I approached you on the street and said, “This morning, as you were driving to work, you passed a school for deaf and blind children. You were in such a rush to get to work on time, you must have missed the clearly posted speed limit signs, and ignored the speed bumps, you went through so fast. The policeman on duty at the crosswalk got your tag number and fined you with $15,000.00. But Mr. Smith heard about it and paid the fine for you!”

Now you are excited, you have the full context and the gift actually makes sense to you. As Christians we need to keep in mind the full context of God’s gift of salvation and present that gift to others in the full context. God created us (Revelations 4:11[RSH1] ). We sinned against God (Mark 7:20-22 [RSH2] & Romans 3:10-12[RSH3] ). God justly gives those who sin against Him exactly what they ask for, separation from Him (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9[RSH4] ). Jesus was born in the flesh (John 1:14). Jesus died for our sins (1 Peter 3:18 [RSH5] & 1 Peter 2:24[RSH6] ). We must place our faith only in Jesus Christ to be saved from our sins (John 3:36 [RSH7] & John 3:16[RSH8] ). There you have it, the gift of God in a nutshell and all the sweeter for it.

[RSH1]“Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.”

[RSH2]²⁰And he said, ““What comes out of a person is what defiles him.” ²¹“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,” ²²“coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”

[RSH3]¹⁰as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; ¹¹no one understands; no one seeks for God. ¹²All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”

[RSH4]⁸in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,

[RSH5]¹⁸For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit

[RSH6]²⁴He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.

[RSH7]³⁶Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.

[RSH8]For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

Overview

Bubba tends to be of an extremely analytical and logical nature; as such, he is drawn to systems, frameworks, and workflows in understanding and visualizing concepts. While most everyone appreciates a diagram or picture to help them understand a concept, there aren’t as many (though you are likely one if you are reading this) who are truly attracted to a systematic approach of frameworks and workflows. A long way of saying that this might not be for you, but I find it helps me towards greater clarity in analysis and understanding.

First, we will acquire a framework for understanding doctrine. Back in 2003 (or was 2004?), Randy Tomassi was teaching a Sunday School class at Christ the King church in Batavia, and introduced me to a three tiered classification of Doctrine, which I immediately fell in love with. Recently, my good friend Nathan Chapman (worship leader at The Exodus Church in Belmont) pointed me towards Al Mohlers article “A Call for Theological Triage and Christian Maturity” and asked me what I thought of it. In short, I love it and agree wholeheartedly. The longer version is that there is so much more.

Mind spinning over the past couple of days, I have struggled to get my thoughts on the matter in some semblance of order and cohesiveness that can be clearly articulated to others. There are so many nuances and opportunities to misspeak or be misunderstood that one friend even suggested that perhaps it isn’t worth pursuing. However, for my own peace of mind I need to articulate this, and I pray that it will be useful to others as well.

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Adapted From “Questions of Life” for Alpha Course Presentation

What is Prayer?

Wayne Grudem says that “Prayer may be defined as follows: Prayer is personal communication with God”.

Now that is a mighty wide definition. Especially considering the various types of prayers that we can include; under the heading of “prayer” we have prayers of:

· Adoration

· Confession

· Intercession (asking something for others)

· Petition (asking something for ourselves)

· Praise

· Thanksgiving

Prayer is one of, if not the, most important activities of our Christian life. It is a conversation with God – a conversation in which the entire Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) is involved.

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Antithesis

Any endeavor will have pitfalls that must be guarded against, and it is wise to consider the history of small groups, identify common pitfalls that have complicated them, and ensure that we militate against these shoals by doing all that is in our power to navigate around them.

I have five specific hazards in mind, but before I present them to you, I’d like to challenge you to identify a few yourselves. Consider what you know of small groups, neighborhood bible studies, etc. and let’s pull together a quick list.

The five that I have in mind are as follows:

Elitism - The belief that due to membership in a certain small group, or bible study, the participants deserve favored treatment by virtue of their perceived superiority, as in intellect, spiritual status, or piety.

Exclusivism – Excluding some, or most, of our brothers and sisters in Christ from participating in our pursuit of God’s glory.

Estrangement – To disrupt the bond of grace, love, friendship, and loyalty that Christians are called to with the visible church.

Complaining – To express dissatisfaction, uneasiness, resentment or to find fault with our brothers and sisters in Christ.

Assuage – To participate with the sole purpose of relieving or mitigating our conscience, a pharisaical approach to sanctification.

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Have you ever considered that it would be nice to be able to handle every situation in a way that honors God? To be totally prepared that handle every situation in such a way as to bring glory to God’s name? This is not only possible; it is God’s will for each Christian.

Our memory verse this week (2 Timothy 3:16-17 – 16 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. ) is the basis of this proposition. Once you know what God says and how to put it into practice – you will be equipped for every circumstance in life!

J.I. Packer – If I were the devil, one of my first aims would be to stop folk from digging into the bible.

The whole premise if found on knowing what God says – and how will we know what God says if we do not study His word, Scripture? We are not referring here to merely reading the bible, because we can read and not comprehend! See Acts 8:30 & 31 –30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him.

We also are not speaking of devotional reading, which should very much be a part of your daily walk with Christ. Instead, we speak of Study – which includes discovery, comprehension, interpretation, and application and prior to starting to study the Bible, we must first agree on HOW we will study the Bible. (more…)

Psalm 143:2

Enter not into judgment with your servant, for no one living is righteous before you.

In the Overview, Bryan referred to this as “The Sinful Condition of Man after the Fall into Sin”. The Doctrines of Grace refer to this as Total Depravity, where depravity is defined as Moral Perversion, an Impairment of Virtue or Moral Principles. Some synonyms for Total might be:

• Comprehensive
• Thorough
• Utter
• Exhaustive
• Pervasive

I state, “You are Utterly Sinful, your Moral Perversion is comprehensive, you suffer a thorough impairment of virtue, and a pervasive impairment of moral principles!”

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FLOYD DOUD SHAFER Christianity Today, March 27, 1961

There was a time, about three generations ago, when the minister was known as the parson. Parson, in those days, was not a nickname, but an honorific title, and it meant The Person. More often than not the parson was the best educated man in the community and he ranked with the physician and the pedagogue, and the lawyer in eminence. But our time has seen a complete switch in this situation. The minister is no longer a parson. The advent of a highly educated public has put the minister close to the bottom of the listings in educated persons. Our reaction to this turn of events should have been a determined and disciplined effort to regain and maintain superior excellence in the things which pertain to God. Instead, the clergy retreated in mad scramble behind the breastworks of administrative detail, ecclesiastical trivia, and community vagrancy. Whenever our conscience bothered us, we simply ran off to another meeting to make arrangements for succeeding meetings to flee to. We are no longer parsons, now we are “good Joes” and in place of providing the Church with her needed “Scholar teachers” who are equipped to bring God and man together in reasoned relation, we no find ourselves among those who need to be reached by the “Scholar Teacher” and wise men of God. What is the resolution of this ridiculous farce? (more…)

The way we live our lives demonstrate more clearly what we believe about the Bible and God than anything we say. Many call themselves Christians, 3/5 of Americans claim to be personally committed to Christ. Matthew 7:21-23 is a clear example of why we need to believe what the Bible teaches and live it, rather than claim we believe what the Bible teaches yet continue to live in opposition to those teachings.

• Does your life reflect what you claim to believe?
• Do you keep Christ’s commandments and abide in His love?
• Are there any areas of your life that are in opposition to Scripture and Christ’s commandments?

Bible Reading: John 15:1-17

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(Mathew 5:13-16) To paraphrase Matthew Henry,

˜Mankind, wallowing in wickedness, is piled up as an enormous heap, prepared to putrefy. However, Christ has sent us that by our lives mankind may be seasoned with grace and love. If an individual can take up the profession of Christ, and yet remain loveless, no other doctrine, no other means, can make that individual profitable. Our light must shine, by doing such good works as others may see. What is between God and our souls, must be kept to ourselves; but that which is of itself open to the sight of men, we must study to make suitable to our profession [Christianity], and praiseworthy."

Matthew Henry is right on the mark because he knows that a sound biblical doctrine without a sound biblical love is impotent. The Apostle Paul makes it clear in the corrective of 1 Corinthians 13 that even if I express prophetic powers, knowledge, faith, generosity and unswerving conviction, but have not love I am nothing and gain nothing. Our faith and theology must translate into the content of our lives. Love is the litmus test of true Christianity and it is integral to our witness for Christ.

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Compassion – Deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it.)

Witness – a. One who can give a firsthand account of something seen, heard, or experienced. b. One who furnishes evidence.)

Our God is a God of compassion; He has a deep awareness of our suffering coupled with the desire to relieve it. He sent His Son in order to provide the relief for our suffering! As Christians, we who have experienced this relief are capable of giving a firsthand account of what we have seen, heard, and experienced through Christ. We have even established that Christ has commanded each of us to do precisely this. (See Commanded to Witness)

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