Wednesday, November 22
No Bible Study
Sunday, November 26
Prayer Service 10:15 a.m.
Worship Service 11:00 a.m.
Ladies’ Bible Study 6:00 p.m.
Upcoming Events
Upcoming Events
12/18 Christmas Dinner
12/21 Christmas Program Dress Rehearsal
12/22 Christmas Program
12/24 Candlelight Communion
12/31 New Years Eve Fellowship
Timothy Shanks and Aaron Reantazo were baptized on June 30, 2013!
Yesterday’s editorial page in our local paper had a viewpoint published from the pastor of a local Lutheran church. She noted how her congregation had helped the United Methodist congregation over the past several years while the Methodists were rebuilding their burnt facilities. In this spirit of cooperation and unity she concluded with the following statement: “Join us and we will praise God in one place, not just as Lutherans and Methodists, but as Buddhists, Catholics, Muslims, Presbyterians, Jews and many other spiritual traditions. Hope to see you there!”
Christians ought to be sharing their faith and Thanksgiving to God, and the friendship between these two churches is a shining example of unity and love to all of us. Though there are differences between the beliefs and practices of Methodists and Lutherans, both Martin Luther and Charles Wesley held to the exclusivity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Today, however, this view has been jettisoned by their heirs and replaced with religious pluralism.
I don’t want to rain on the parade, but as nice as it sounds Lutherans, Methodists, Buddhists, Catholics, Muslims, and Jews can only praise the same God if Read More »
Some of you may know that Ray Comfort, the California evangelist from New Zealand, has brought out a 150th Anniversary Edition of Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species. In it he has placed his own 50 page introduction where he points out the fallacies of the theory, notes some of the ramifications of evolutionary philosophy (eugenics, euthanasia, abortion, etc.), and preaches the gospel of Jesus Christ. He is planning on distributing this book free of charge on the campuses of the top universities in the United States.
Evolutionists and atheists are predictably irate; Richard Dawkins, the notorious British author of The God Delusion, calls Comfort an ignorant fool and tells students to Read More »
David Wahlstedt is lead pastor at CrossPointe Commnity Church, an emergent church in Carrollton, Texas. He was interviewed recently in the NOV/DEC 2009 Church Production magazine, and he recounts the incident that lead him away from traditional church services and into emergent worship:
“Ten years ago Read More »
Here is a quote from a recent interview with Michael Horton in Christianity Today (Nov. 2009, p. 49). Mr. Horton is a professor at Westminster Seminary in Escondido, CA, and the author of Christless Christianity.
“You also say it’s [the Gospel] not ‘a personal relationship with God’ or ‘making Jesus your Lord and Savior.’ What do you mean?
I realize that those are deeply held, personal convictions among many evangelicals. But everyone has a personal relationship with God. You start with Genesis and work your way to the Book of Revelation–everyone has a relationship with God. In Romans 1-3, Paul says Gentiles have a relationship with God, even when they are engaging in idolatry. The question is whether the relationship is with a father, who has justified and adopted his heirs, or with a judge.
The phrase ‘making Jesus Lord and Savior’ does not appear anywhere in Scripture (any more than does ‘personal relationship’). It assumes we are the ones who make God something. It is hard to imagine a Jew saying he made God his liberator and Lord in the Exodus. No. God made the Israelites the recipients of his saving and lordly work. So we don’t make God anything; it is he who makes us his people. The Good News is not that Jesus has made it possible for you to make him Lord and Savior. The Good News is that he has actually saved and liberated you, and that he is your Savior.”
There is much confusion about the salvation today because we have adopted these and other unbiblical phrases to represent the Gospel. The gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ applied by faith to the hopelessly lost repentant sinner through the mercy and grace of God.
BLAME IT ON THE BRAIN?
Edward Welch ( 1998 )
Blame It on the Brain? was written to help believers distinguish among chemical imbalances, brain disorders, and disobedience. His task was “twofold: to introduce areas where the brain has received too little credit, and to highlight where the brain has received too much credit (or blame).” (pp. 13-14). The brain, as an organ in our body, does have an influence on behavior, so the problem becomes one of knowing when it is “legitimate to blame our misbehaviors on the brain” (p. 15) and when it is not.
The first part of the book is devoted to laying Read More »
WORSHIP IN THE MELTING POT
Masters, Peter (2002)
Worship in the Melting Pot was written by Dr. Peter Masters, the pastor of the world famous Metropolitan Tabernacle since 1970. The Metropolitan Tabernacle was the church which C. H. Spurgeon pastored in the 19th century. Metropolitan Tabernacle has continued in the Baptist tradition of simplicity and predictability in its worship, which is in stark contrast to the Read More »
Very Naughty Figs
Dan and Sonya Carlson, Traffod Publishing, 2006
Very Naughty Figs came across my path recently. It was written and illustrated by a husband and wife team to help expose the archaic expressions and words found in the AV (Authorized Version, also known as the King James Version). The book catches the eye and brings a smile to the face because Read More »
Randall\'s Ramblings 