Bluecollar

Abba, Father

2010-01-26T12:01:00.002-05:00

By Mark Pierson

"Abba, Father,...not what I will, but what You will"

In those moments when anguish settles into the very core of your being...those times when there seems to be no hope, nothing but utter darkness and despair, when all you can do is fall to your knees before God in absolute surrender, for there is nowhere else to turn - it is there that you encounter your Father Who adopted you.

Absolute surrender, when you can't see any other avenues, beyond your own resources, yea, beyond those of any mere human being; undone, naked, at the very end of your rope.Let's face it, there are even times when trials literally come flying at us from every conceivable direction, all at one time, at a dizzying pace, so as to make us wonder "how could God be in control of any of this at all"? Doubt and frustration fill the mind. Angry outbursts can follow.

It would seem that, at times like these, the Lord has chosen to invade, attack, dismantle and enlarge our comfort zone. There is no maintaining or taking of control that we can do; it is entirely beyond our abilities. You find out the hard way that you are not "the captain of your own destiny". You have NO control AT ALL.

Take that brother in Christ whose son has a debilitating disease, whose medical bills are pilling up, and he has just lost his job. Or that Christian couple whose daughter is born with a rare cancer and tumorous growths cover her body. What about the young Christian couple whose six-year-old son contracts a rare disease and shortly thereafter dies. Or, yet again, what about that missionary, faithful to the call of Christ in his life, who now lay in bed with Lou Gherig's disease.

Powerless, helpless, out of control; you fall to your knees and cry out to your Maker; the One who saved your soul from everlasting destruction; the One Who Alone has the Power over such things.We can cling to Him Whose promises are true. He Alone is our Refuge and Shield. He never changes. He will always remain true to His Word; we can bank our lives on that.

Somehow, in the acknowledging of His power and control over the matters and events in our lives, both joyous and grievous, the peace begins to flow into our hearts.The Lord never once promised us a Rose Garden nor to feather our beds. The problems will come. Spouses will abandon; loved ones will contract terminal illness; jobs will be lost; dear ones will die.

In considering our adoptive relationship we do well to remember back at what it took for our Holy Maker to enter into that special relationship with us - that of being our Father.

Believe it or not we were once the children of wrath even as others. We too walked in disobedience and according to the course of this world. If not for God's intervention into our lives we would have gone on to experience the full brunt of His fury on our sins. We would have been outside of His care and favor in this life and subjected to eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire after it was over. No one, no one has attracted God's love and care. If not for His mercy and grace, His sovereign grace in choosing us in His Son before the world was created, we would be the objects of His Holy wrath just like everybody else. Eternal punishment is what we deserve when held up to the Holy Standard, Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Unsaved, dead in trespasses and sins, slaves to sin, children of the devil, objects of the coming wrath; that's who we were before the love of God in Christ appeared to us; before the Holy Spirit quickened our hearts to the truth.

Jesus took the punishment we deserved. And, oh how He suffered! God the Father unleashed all of His fury on His Holy Son as He bore our sins in His sinless body. The Holy suffering for the unholy. All to bring to an end the enmity that existed between a Holy God, who is just in His Righteous anger against sin, and sinful creatures as we, who deserve to be recipients of that righteous anger. So now there is peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Peace, no more being at odds, peace now to experience the love of God in all it's breadth, depth, and height. Peace, His care leading and guiding us through life, in all its ups and downs. Peace because now HE has control over us; no longer is it the "spirit that now works in the children of disobedience". Peace, because His promises to us are now "yea and amen" in Christ. Where once existed hostility - God's wrath towards sinful creatures as we, versus our willful disobedience to His decrees and will - now there is harmony to those in Christ.

What did it take to bring about this peace? What did it take to bring together two polar opposites - a Holy Righteous God, with whom is no darkness at all, and unholy, sinful rebellious creatures as we? How could He become our Father and we His children? There was a price to be paid!

Oh, what a price it was. God gave His Son. He gave His Son that we, His elect, might be saved from the wrath to come - that we might be adopted into His family as He puts us into His Son. He has made us accepted in His Beloved Son. "In Him we have redemption through His blood". Ephesians 1:7 says.

Now, let us consider what price the Son paid. Both Testaments paint a graphic picture.

In Isaiah we read: "I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting". Isaiah 50:6. ...His visage was so marred more than the sons of men...Isaiah 52:14.By the time the soldiers had gotten done with their mistreatment of Him, He was beaten beyond recognition, even beyond having the form of a man! "He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" Is 53:5. Isaiah goes on: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Verse 6. - There's more---"He was oppressed, and He was afflicted---He was brought as a lamb to the slaughter---for the transgression of my people was He stricken. Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him; He hath put Him to grief:---Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin---by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for He shall bare their iniquities---He has poured out His soul unto death: and He was numbered with the transgressors; and He bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors - Is. 53:7-12.

In the New Testament Jesus Himself at the Last Supper, while taking bread and wine, which stood symbolically for His body and blood, said of the wine "...this is My blood which is shed for many for the remission of sins."His blood was shed that our sins may be forgiven! - The blood poured from the crown of thorns pressed deeply upon His head. The blood poured from His back from the scourging with the whips laced with glass and bone chips. The blood poured from His face after the pounding He received from the soldiers' fists and from their pulling out of His beard. The blood poured from the nails in His forearms and ankles as He dangled from them on the cross. And, finally, the blood poured when, after His death, the soldier pierced His side with a sword.

Ah, there it is, that "fountain---opened---for sin and uncleanness." There is the means whereby sin can be forgiven and washed away. There is the means whereby we can come before the Throne of the Holy Creator and call Him "Father." From a position of rebellious, disobedient, hostile, morally filthy, unthankful objects of the coming wrath; to the positions of pardoned, forgiven, cleansed, reconciled, adopted sons and daughters of the Most High God! "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool", says Isaiah.

Jesus came to die in our place, IN OUR PLACE!

While hanging on that rugged old cross something happened that never, in all eternity past, nor shall it ever happen again. Something horrible, indeed the most horrible event in all history took place: at the height of His sin-bearing mission the Father turned His Face from the Son. "My God, My God why have you forsaken me?" was the Son's cry. Who could possibly imagine what it was like to the Father to turn His Head from the Eternal Object of His love? Who could imagine what it was like for the Beloved Son to experience the Father looking away from Him - a once in eternity experience. For the first time ever, never to happen again, the Son experienced the loss of Fellowship and joy of being in His Father's presence.

That is the price that God paid for His elect! And, oh how we are often tempted to trifle with this knowledge! How, at the slightest turn in our fortunes, are we tempted to question His love and care for us! Even after our regeneration we still have no concept of the price God paid for our adoption into His family. There is no real concept of what it was like for the Holy Father to have to vent all of His Righteous fury on top of His Beloved Son - His Holy, Pure, and Righteous Son. There is no concept of what it was like for the Son to experience the Father turning His head from Him as He bore our sins - "the just suffering for the unjust, that He might bring us to God."

Now, the price has been paid. Now, we can call Him "Father." After His resurrection Jesus said, "I ascend unto My Father, and your Father." He taught us to pray, "Our Father, who are in Heaven, Hallowed be Your Name---." In the Gospel of Matthew alone Jesus referred to His Father as our Father no less than 22 times!"But ye have received the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba, Father." Romans 8:15. "And because you are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." "Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will---." Eph. 1

Now we can come to Him as His adopted children - He adopted us, it was His will! We can call Him "Father."

We can call Him "Father" of Whom it is written,"---for I am God, there is none else; I am God, and there is none like Me." Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure---" Is. 46:9-10.We can call Him Father of Whom it is written, "My times are in Your hand---." My times, every event sweet or sour, pleasant or unpleasant, joyous or sad are in [His] hand." He knows the number of hairs on our head. He, in His Providence, controls all the comings and goings of our lives. Not one trial or experience comes at us without His approval and permission. He, not we, is in control. Nothing catches Him by surprise. Nothing gets by Him. Regardless of our deceptive feelings, everything is in His control - He has the reigns of every trial and tribulation. We can console ourselves with this truth.

But there is more...

We can call Him "Father" of Whom it is written, "You are my Rock and my Fortress---my Strength" Psalm 31:3-4. The mighty King David knew our "Father" as his place to run and hide. He knew our "Father" as his source of strength and comfort. David, a model of manliness and power, shamelessly clung to our Father for protection and strength. The mightiest of warriors taking refuge in his God, our Father! David's hope and trust were not in his own abilities, but in his God, our Father. David entrusted his entire make-up, his emotional well being; his physical safety; his future state, into the hand of his God, our Father. David acknowledged God's Hand in his past and in the present. David knew that as surely as God was in control of all that ever came his way, He would also direct all of his future as well. David's heart took refuge in these truths.The storms; inward turmoil's - depressions, fears, anxieties and terrors - external oppositions of people and events, in all these things he found our Father faithful. David prayed "Into your hand I commit my spirit." God, our Father was his Rock, his fortress, and his strength. There was no better place to commit his spirit.

Oh, the utter surrender and careless abandon with which he threw himself into God's care - and found Him utterly faithful! No reservation, complete dependence on our Father's abilities to uphold, sustain, protect, lead and guide him in his life.

Beloved, there is so much more that we could examine in scripture concerning our Father, but let us for now turn lastly to 1 Peter. While giving instructions to Christian slaves on how to live God fearing lives before their masters, Peter invited his readers to consider Our Lord and how He conducted Himself in the last hours before the crucifixion. Here Peter writes "---Who, when He was reviled did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously." - Our Lord handed over Himself to His Father, our Father, to keep. To borrow the words of John MacArthur in his commentary here Jesus had "perfect confidence in the sovereignty and righteousness of His Father."Knowing full well the sufferings and all of the experiences that lay ahead Jesus "committed Himself" into His Father's care. He did not shrink back or faint at what lay ahead. He did not plot or plan an alternate route. He did not try to take charge of the situation. He did not lower his shoulder and charge into the situation like a fullback into the line of scrimmage. There He stood, full of peace, calm, collected, in the full assurance that His Father was in complete control of the situation. He was there in complete compliance to His Father's will. His Father was in charge. Nothing should befall Him but that which His Father had ordered. Surrender, sweet surrender, total submission, absolute abandon, no reserve, unshaken, utter reliance.

Just hours earlier He had prayed "Abba, Father---not what I will, but what You will."

And there is the lesson...

The One Who in scripture said, "I must be about My Father's business" or "for I always do those things that please Him"; "The One of Whom it is written that He said; "a body you have prepared for Me. ---then I said "Behold, I have come---to do your will , O God." , yes, that One has provided us a model.

Yes, that's it!

Our Lord's whole strength and energy was in the doing of His Father's, our Father's will. The absolute focus and gaze of His life was His Father's Face and being in perfect and total surrender to Him. Oh, what trust. In the midst of false accusations and venomous hatred by the mobs outside His trial, there He stood - in perfect peace. Was His heart-skipping beats do to anxiety? Was His stomach upset about the sufferings that lay ahead? No! That was behind Him now - back at the garden. This is now after the prayer "Not My will ---but Thy Will be done." This now, is the time of reliance on His Father's being in charge. His Father's Face must have been all that Jesus was content to behold in these terrible moments. A scripture that describes Jesus' relationship to His Father is Psalm 16:11b "...In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures for evermore."

"Not My will ---but Thy Will be done." Oh, to behold the lesson taught here! Unselfish devotion to His Father's Will. In John 4 Jesus said, "My meat is to do the Will of Him that sent me." His sustenance, the thing that filled His appetite, was the doing of His Father's will.A very central lesson in Christianity comes to us here, for you see, we too are to live our lives in total submission to our Father's will. His will is to conform us into the image of His dear Son. In the middle of the trials and tribulations that come our way. He is at work molding, melting, breaking, and chiseling our lives like a Master Craftsman. He breaks and hammers away at our lives. He melts us in the heat and fire only to skim away the dross. He shakes us up in order that we don't settle on our lees. How very painful it can be. Yet, it is our loving Heavenly Father, the One Who adopted us at a Great Price, Who is in complete control. Thus, just as our Saviour "committed Himself into His Father's care, we too should pray "Abba, Father not my will but Thy Will be done".

Living for Him, selfless, submissive, and surrendered. Thankful for His promises, thankful that He "the only Wise God" is in control. Thankful that He "who calls the beginning from the ending", the One whose thoughts and ways are higher than ours "as high as the heavens are above the earth", is in control of everything that comes our way. Thankful that we don't have to rely on our own faulty, frail and very mortal wisdom to guide us through life. Thankful that the very most beautiful destiny in all of creation is ours - that of being conformed into the Image of God's Beloved Son, and becoming like Him when we see Him face to face as He comes to take us home to be with Him for all eternity.

In the middle of your darkest hour, in the middle of your manifold temptations, cry out to Him in surrender. Give yourself totally into His care. Weep in His presence "casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."Let us close now with a prayer of king David and echoed by our Saviour as His last prayer while hanging on the cross "Father, Into Your Hands I commit My Spirit."

God's Love in Christ

2010-01-15T12:23:00.000-05:00

'As I live' says the Lord God,'I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn, turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?'

A loving God calling out to rebellious ancient Israel. From this verse we can gain so much insight into the Heart of Almighty God. Truely God desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. He hates sin and its consequences upon the human race. His desire is that lost men and women would look unto Him and be saved. He is the One Who said:" There is no other God besides Me , A just God and a Savior; There is none besides Me".

He pleads with the lost to "Turn,turn from your evil way!" You can sense the love and compassion of His Heart in the question, " For why should you die, O house of Israel?".

Indeed, God IS love. He is not willing that any should perish,but that all would come to repentance.

But,God's love cost Him dearly. " For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son...".

Yes, He gave that One with Whom He shared His glory before the world was. He sent that One Whom He loved before the foundation of the world. No human can fathom the width and length and depth and height of the Father's love for His Son. The Father sent that One Who was the very center and focus of His infinite love. He sent that One Who alone is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His Person. He sent that One Who alone loved Him enough to be able to say,"I have come to do thy will, O God".

Yes, God's love cost Him dearly. Yes, What happened to the Son was pre-determined in eternity past. Still, the Son must endure and the Father must watch. The Son has taken upon Himself the sins of a lost world. He is beaten with a whip, ripping flesh from His bones. He is punched in the face, so much so that He is no longer recognizable. They mock Him, spit at Him and pound a crown of thorns onto His head.(He is the One Through Whom the world was created). But, the truth be known, all of this, and the cross that lay ahead was the Father's doing. He was carrying out His plan of having His Son pay the price for the sins of mankind. His plan was carried out by the hands of wicked men. God,you see, was in complete control.

There, on the ground lay the assembled cross. One can imagine the Son, out of love for His Father, out of love for mankind, walking over to the cross unforced. That love motivates Him to lie down on that cross unassisted. No one need hold Him down as the nails are driven in. Then that cross, bearing the sinless, sin-bearing Son of God, is picked up and thrown into an awaiting post-hole. His body bounces back and forth while suspended from those nails. There He hung, bearing our sins and the Father's wrath upon those sins. At one point the Father turns His head from the Son. Our sins are THAT ugly in His sight. Then, after hours of agony, out of the Son's mouth come those wonderful words," It is finished". Man's sins are now paid for. The Father's wrath upon those sins has been spent in its entirety. Now, with His sin-bearing mission complete, Jesus yields up His spirit. THE way to approach God is now opened.

Oh, what Christ accomplished on that day!

Now sinners, those slaves of sin, have deliverance from that slavery. Those coming to Him no longer need fear judgement, there is now forgivness of sins. Now repentance and remission of sins can be preached in His name to all nations. For, you see, three days later He rose again. The Father had accepted His sacrifice. The Son has conquered sin and death. God has provided the perfect way of salvation. It truely is finished!

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life"...John 3:16.

Jesus now invites, yea, He commands, people to come unto Him - those who labor to be right with God, and are heavy laden with guilt over their sin - and He will give them rest. His instruction for us is to take His yoke upon us, so that He has control over our lives, so that He can steer our lives in the direction He would have us go. He would have us learn of Him, how He wants us to live.

Yes, come to Him, believing that His sacrifice paid for all your sins. Come to Him in full surrender of your life over to His Lordship. Yes, come to Him

God's final word

2009-12-26T11:20:00.004-05:00

The following can be found here...

http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2009/12/gods-final-word.html#links

by Dan Phillips

We begin with a too-literal rendering of one of the most masterful openings in all literature, Hebrews 1:1-2.

In many parts and in many ways God having of old spoken to the fathers in the prophets, at the last of these days spoke to us in Son, whom He appointed inheritor of all things, through whom also He made the ages....

God's revelation of Himself was in many parts, in that no one revelatory event was exhaustive. God did not disclose all of Himself nor all of His plan to Adam at his creation; nor to Adam and his wife at their fall; nor to Noah at his commissioning; nor to Abraham at his call. Each received a portion of revelation, but not the whole of it.

Further, this revelation was in many ways. Now a voice but no form; now a hovering flame and smoke; now a dream; now a vision; now a holy war, a miracle, a plague, a code of laws, a sacrificial system — these, and many more, were the array of forms that God utilized in beginning to make Himself known.

But all of it was God, who had spoken to the fathers in the prophets. Though incomplete, it was all intelligible to them, because it was addressed to them. However, though intelligible, it was incomplete. It was sloping upward, as it were, heading for a climax. What was that climax?

That climax was brought about by revelation of the same God, but it came not of old, nor to the fathers. The summit has arrived at the end of these days. It has come to us. It has come in Son.

Translators despair of capturing the meaning of those two words, ἐν υἱῷ, in Son. They are almost adverbial in force, in that they describe the manner of God's speaking at these end times. It is not in many parts, it is not in many ways. It is in one who is Son, it is Son-wise, it is an in-Son kind of revelation.

But they also single out the locus of God's revelation: it is not in a thing, nor an event, nor an institution, nor in words alone. It is in a person — but not just any person. Not a mere prophet, nor a bright angel. The locus of God's final revelation is in one who is most fundamentally and essentially Son.

And this is God's final word. This is what God has to say: Jesus, the Son! Jesus in His miraculous conception, His miraculous life, His miraculous words and deeds. Jesus, in Himself not destroying the variegated Law and the various Prophets, but fulfilling them all to the utmost. Jesus, the Logos, the Word who reveals His Father. Jesus in His abandonment, His death, His resurrection. Jesus reaching out to sinners in the preaching of His Gospel.

Jesus constitutes God's final word, His final revelation. "Final" both in the sense that (unlike the Old) it will never be superseded, but also "final" in the sense that it is complete, and that it constitutes a crisis.

This revelation is a crisis in that we must deal with Jesus. If we would look impatiently past Him, restlessly cast about here and there, we shall find no other word from God — except for a word of final judgment, of final rejection, of final condemntation. F. F. Bruce well says in his commentary, "The story of divine revelation is a story of progression up to Christ, but there is no progression beyond him" (46).

That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown — or Andy American, or Bob Briton, Artie Australian, or whoever you may be. Christmas is about God wrapping all He has to say in one person, the person of one who is — not a prophet, not a sign, not a shadow, not a vision, not a dream, not a type, but — His Son.

Now you've heard it. Would you like to see it? Read Luke 9:29-36, for a vivid enactment of this very truth. Two men, representing the Law and the Prophets (which is to say, the entire Old Testament), appear with Jesus in the mount. Jesus shines with brilliant glory (cf. Hebrews 1:3). Just as Peter proposes three equal tents for the three majesties, a cloud overshadows all. The Father speaks:

"This is My Son, the Chosen One. Listen to Him!"

And when the cloud departs, Jesus alone is left. God has spoken in one who is Son.

God grant us ears to hear, this Christmas — and God grant that there be more of us who hear.

Check Out This Blog

2009-11-25T12:21:00.006-05:00

Folks, I'd like to point you to the fine work of my friend Wayne. Right now he is working his way through New Covenant Theology, or, as some call it, Fulfillment Theology. You can see his work here...True Free Grace .

Other great links: http://www.soundofgrace.com/

http://www.gracechurchatfranklin.org/newcovenanttheology.htm

http://www.runningforhope.com/teachings/Three%20view%20of%20the%20covenant%20in%20the%20Old%20Testament.pdf

Meanwhile I'll be shutting down this blog for the holidays, or untill I come up with something else to write about - Whichever comes first, I guess. Until then Happy Holidays!

Kevin Lane Witnesses To Mark

2009-10-03T10:59:00.003-04:00

Folks,
I want to reserve this post and comments thread for a discussion between author Kevin Lane and myself. Please nobody else participate here. Just me and Kevin. Thanks.

Kevin, could you please witness to me in this post? Let's say I'm unsaved and so you come along to present me with the Gospel. I'll repost your respenses in the comment thread here in the post. Again, thanks for the interaction.

Take it away, Kevin...

And this was Kevin's courageous response to me from another blog...
So you’ve got a minute?

An Email Chat With Pastor Reid Ferguson

2009-07-31T11:18:00.003-04:00

Sir,

In talking to some free gracers via the blogs I have encountered two who claim that Puritan theology landed them in the emergency room at the hospital. They claim that said theology brought them to such a point of despair as far as assurance was concerned that they ended up being stressed so badly that a trip to emergency was necessary. Is it possible that their claims should be considered? Did the Puritans go too far? Were they really THAT bad as far as assurance in salvation was concerned? No, I'm not about to embrace classic dispy soteriology, but I DO wonder about whether or not time should be given to consider the possibility that the Puritans had gone too far in some areas.

Mark

Pastor Reid's response -

You are quite correct Mark. It is often true that those "serious" about their spirituality, begin the slide into pietism - a kind of self-imposed legalism over oneself, rooted in the exercise of ruthless, regular, self-examination. And, their sense of standing with God flows from how they feel about these self-examinations. While there is a certain measure of self-examination which is OK - especially when one is brought to see there might be an issue below the surface which needs attention - the most regular result is depression. Ones eyes have been turned from Christ as our only righteousness, to preoccupation with remaining sin. The Puritans in some cases drove this pious sounding activity to a tortuous art form. Everyone's assurance of salvation was connected to these exercises. And so precious few of them had any assurance at all. If they did, it was in thinking "at least I'm not as bad as THAT guy".

Calvin on the other hand took an entirely different approach. He told those troubled about their salvation status that the only safe course was to go back and look at the Cross - not at their own "progress". Am I trusting Christ alone? Or am I trusting the progress I think I should have made, or should be making, or that others tell me I have made? So he told them all - just go back and look at the Cross. There is your salvation.

Bunyan's trials over assurance were not resolved (and he suffered excuciatingly for years) until it dawned upon him that his righteousness was not to be detected in his own heart - for he was still full of sin, but was a justified - sinner. Thus he concluded, his righteousness was in Heaven, not in his own heart and mind. He (like Luther) was saved by an alien righteousness, not his own.

This is why Luther's central thesis that the Christian is "simul iustice et peccatore" (simultaneously sinner and saint) is essential. We DO NOT GET RID OF ANY SIN IN THIS LIFE. We do gain ground over some sins - the expression of our sinfulness - but the sin principle remains in us and always looking for ascendancy. Our only hope is in Christ's righteousness IMPUTED to us, not INFUSED within us. Yes, the Spirit has taken up residence and is in the process of freeing us from sin's bondage, but its presence is not one whit lessened until we leave these bodies. It is like we have a cancer of the soul When we were justified, the cancer's spread stopped. It can no longer continue its forward march to consume us. However, it has not been excised. It remains. And the damage it has already done - while in the process of being healed - is not healed all at once. And, its propensity to break out given even the slightest chance is always present. What he have though, is a pronouncement now of our FINAL diagnosis.

The object in this is that we can be JOYFUL as we set about the lifelong work of co-laboring with the Spirit in attacking the strongholds of sin within us. Sometimes, we will suffer great wounds in that battle - but ultimate victory is promised. Sometimes, we suffer "fatal" wounds in the battle, but because we have eternal life - not temporary eternal life" - after we suffer a death blow, we rise up yet again to fight until at last we conquer.

The Believer HAS to live in the full knowledge that a. Sin will be with him to the end, and b. That God has promised when this is over - we WILL be conformed to Christ's image. He cannot fail, even though we fail constantly. Christ is our ONLY righteousness, we have none of our own. We rest in His, and do not plunge ourselves into the terrifying depths of our own remaining sin.

In this regard, the Puritans, the Pietistic Lutherans, the Perfectionistic theology of Methodism and the Salvation Army and Pentecostal Holiness and other ALL went too far.

Ron Rosenbladt tells of Professor Mansky who used to start a freshman course in Christianity every year with this digest of Christian thought:

Rome = Law
Lutheranism = Law/Gospel
Evangelical & Wesleyanism = Law/Gospel/Law

In other words, salvation in Rome consists all in law. In Luther's theology, it began in Law bringing us to and end of our selves, despairing of hope - and then Gospel turning us to trust in Christ and staying there. Evangelicalism & Wesleyanism said: Yes, the law drives us to Christ in despair, then we are saved by believing the Gospel, and then we go back to the Law for help in sanctification. THAT is the error. Not remaining in the Gospel. The Believer must live there, not simply begin there. In fact, if I might improve on Luther's thought - it should be Law - and when the Law has done its work - Gospel - and then Spirit. Actually trusting the indwelling Spirit to hold sin at bay, and gradually bring us to Christ's likeness. Anything else will always find either ourselves as individuals, or the Church trying to take the role of the Holy Spirit and produce the results by other means. It is a deadly deception.

We are holy IN Christ - and thus FREE in Him - and so we can go on seeking to walk with Him without any fear of condemnation ever again. This is what it means to believe the Gospel. And precious few of us really live there anymore.

Pastor Reid's blog can be found here, http://responsivereiding.com/

Sound Theology?

2009-06-27T11:46:00.006-04:00

Sound Theology?

The following is from Spurgeon's sermon,"Plain Words with the Careless" No. 778. Luke 8:28.

A man may know a great deal about true religion,
and yet be a total stranger to it.

He may know that Jesus Christ is the Son of
God, and yet he may be possessed by a devil;
no, he may be a den for a whole legion of devils.

Mere knowledge does nothing for us but puff us up.
We may know, and know, and know, and so
increase our responsibility, without bringing
us at all into a state of salvation.

Beware of resting in head-knowledge!

Beware of relying upon mere orthodoxy, for without
love to Jesus, with all your correctness of doctrine,
you will be a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.

It is well to be sound in the faith, but the
soundness must be in the heart as well
as in the head.

There is as ready a way to destruction by the road of orthodoxy as by the paths of heterodoxy.

Hell has thousands in it who were never heretics.

Remember that the devils "believe and tremble."

There are no sounder theological believers than
devils, and yet their conduct is not affected by
what they believe, and consequently they still
remain at enmity to the Most High God.

A mere head-believer is on a par therefore with
fallen angels, and he will have his portion with
them forever unless grace shall change his heart.

Blogger Time Out

2009-06-26T06:16:00.003-04:00

I was originally going to take some time off from blogging during July and August in order to read and enjoy some books and to get some things done around the house - and also to just enjoy the Summer. Well, a new twist has been added to my non-blogger summertime experience. You see my wife works in the Human Resources department where I work. As it turns out yesterday, while at work, she overheard a conference call between two of her supperiors, and SHE was one of the topics of their conversation. Yes they were tossing around the idea of laying her off this coming Tuesday when this latest round of layoffs draws to a close. Having been there twice myself I was able to know the feelings she was experiencing - feelings of not being wanted anymore. She has received rave reviews from bosses and fellow employees over the years, but business is so very bad right now that many heads, including hers, must roll. Please pray for my dear wife.

P.S. I will be shutting down this blog for those two months in just a couple of days. The comments will be shut off. I will read emails a couple times a week. My blogger partners on this blog can call me anytime they wish. I'd be HAPPY to hear from you. Let's not lose contact, k?

Back to Normalcy?

2009-06-23T10:03:00.002-04:00

Well, I've got to go into work one hour early today. The reason is we have a grief counsellor coming in today to show us how to be around our boss as he comes back to work after burying his eighteen year old daughter. He's planning on coming back either tomorrow or Thursday. All I could do at the funeral parlor this past Sunday was give him a bear-hug. He wasn't expecting that from me, but it came from my heart. Now we all must be instruments in his life to get him back to "normalcy". I just can't imagine...

Over In An Instant

2009-06-17T13:18:00.002-04:00

I just got some sad but expected news this morning: My boss's daughter died from her injuries sustained in a terrible car accident this past Saturday night. She was just 18 years old - the same as my son. In fact they both graduated highschool at the same time almost exactly one year ago. She was a freshman in college this year. I saw pictures of the car yesterday. There was almost nothing left of it. I can't imagine what my boss and his family are going through...

Challenge for Gary McNees

2009-06-13T19:35:00.000-04:00

Gary,
I came to the Doctrines of Grace wholly independent of the writings of Calvin or Agustine, or anybody else for that matter. It started with Romans 8-9, just the plain reading of those chapters. From what I see you are pretty weak in the scriptures. I challenge you to go without appealing to extra-biblical writings to defend your position. I challenge you to go without quoting the works of other men to defend your anti-Calvinist position. I'll do the same in defense of the Doctrines of Grace. Are you up for it? Do you have the courage? It will be just you and me. man to man.

Okay, Alvin and Gary McNees

2009-06-11T07:27:00.002-04:00

The following was a post from my blog way back when...

Tuesday, April 11, 2006Spurgeon on Assurance "The Holy Spirit, who enabled me to believe, gave me peace through believing. I felt as sure that I was forgiven as before I felt sure of condemnation. I had been certain of my condemnation because the Word of God declared it, and my conscience bore witness to it, but when the Lord justified me, I was equally certain by the same witness. The Word of the Lord in scripture saith, "He that believeth on Him is not condemned," and my conscience bore witness that I believed, and that God in pardoning me was just. Thus I had the witness of the Holy Spirit and also my own conscience, and these two agreed in one."

Taken From C.H.Spurgeon Autobiography: Vol.1 "The Early Years" page 92

In this same paragraph Spurgeon goes on to put down the teachings of a certain Dr. Johnson who held to the idea that no man could have assurance of faith. Spurgeon said that such a man was no reliable judge of theology. He added that Dr. Johnson should have studied his Bible a little more, and have a little more enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, then he too would have come to know his own pardon. I whole heartedly agree!

alvin said...
Hi Mark I also want God's blessings for you, and what I mean by that is that you would come to the knowledge of the truth. Just that short quote you gave by Spurgeon shows that he was deceived in thinking that someone could be saved without knowing they were. If Spurgeon was saved it was in spite of Calvinism. I have read he did not preach consistent Calvinism but was still married to it. God is not obligated to ones who believe biblical language even if they are sincere. As I brought up Max Locado who is dearly loved by many people but has bought into a lie. It's only when we believe biblical truth that God is obligated to keep His promise. Calvinism is a man-made system which makes God out to make "Horrible Decrees" which is neither consistent with His love for all people and His provision for all people in giving a sincere call for anyone who desires to take of the water of life freely and live! Mark you do not believe that God would really give a gift of eternal life without getting back some kind of return in this life. That is what Calvinism is all about "works" that MUST happen if one is truly saved. The Scriptures show clearly that ones were taken home early who were making a mockery out of discipleship either by getting drunk and the Lord's table or lying to the Holy Spirit. I lived pretty much for myself from age 12 to age 38 and you would have had a hard time by my works proving I was saved. Of course God let me do it my way if that's what I wanted to do by learning the hard way that His way was best. I work with a Mormon who would make most Christians look bad. He treats everyone kindly and is just a great guy but rejects a free gift and is working his way to heaven. Anyone looking at his life would think for sure he is saved by his fruit . . . .he looks just like a Calvinist little lamb. I don't see any difference they are both deceived in thinking they can't just take the water of life freely but theirs MORE to it and it's called WORKS. Mark if you believed what we are saying here you would not be fighting against it would you? So your not fooling anyone but yourself. The sufficient proposition we are putting forth here is that anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And the word believe means just that, to believe Jesus is stating the truth in a verse like John 3:16. No word games or pouring the water down ones throat. alvin
June 10, 2009 2:24 PM

Gary said...
Hi Alvin:I started to respond to Mark twice and twice I decided that I didn't have the right thing to say.You are perceptive. Lets see what if any response we get from Mark.If he is ANY kind of Calvinist he will reject what you said.Gary McNees
June 10, 2009 3:41 PM

Novelty?

2009-06-09T11:13:00.006-04:00

The following is from that latter comments on"Free Grace Theology Blog". They are from a man who claims to know Calvinism backwards and forward, a man who claims that Calvinists follow the man Calvin instead of the Bible. Let's see if you can pick up on the irony here -

"This is very easy to say. Just think about the fact that nearly EVERY, pastor, teacher, commentary, systematic theology, confession, of EVERY Christian denomination teaches doctrine which would make it impossible for anyone to ACCEPT what we teach! Just think that there are hundreds of verses in the Bible which SEEM to contradict Free Grace Theology, and ALL of them are "explained" in such a manner by almost all that they rule out the Free Grace interpretation. Further, even the very few denominations, (Once Saved Always Saved Baptist churches are one exception), still in the large part teach a "muddled gospel." Even most of them teach that if one apostatizes completely, and denies Christ, he was not saved, although this is contradicted by their Once Saved Always Saved doctrine. Refined Free Grace theology is a very rare teaching. I fully believe that Free Grace Theology is the only true soteriology, but I do not think that the very good exegesis of verses which SEEM to deny Free Grace Theology are easily come by. I believe that Zane and Bob and others at Grace Evangelical Society have been a real gift to the church, a gift which by the way, is either not known or rejected by most of Christendom. "

"This is what I mean. The same is true of John 11:25-27. The truth that Zane pointed out is obvious AFTER it is explained. The same is true of I John 5:1. I think that millions upon millions have read John 3:16, and I John 5:1 and considered that they believed them. I know I did. I didn't see the obvious in these passages even after I was saved for a long time. It has not been until recently, (in the last few years: that the obvious has become obvious.) Grace Evangelical Society's major goal has been to teach the obvious - that eternal life is given by faith alone in Christ alone. There have been numerous JOTGES papers directed to this point. Hundreds of pages have been spent exegeting verses which SEEM to deny our Free Grace understanding. It seems very likely that a person who is sincerely seeking light on this subject could have a very difficult time reaching the truth when every commentary, systematic theology, Bible teacher, and preacher is teaching that it is not true. After all, there are lengthy passages which SEEM to contradict our understanding of all these verses. Sure, they can be explained, by good exegetes, like Zane, Bob, and others from Grace Evangelical Society but the reasoning is certainly not trivial nor it is obvious."

"I guess I should rephrase my position. I believe that millions of professing Christians THINK that they believe John 3:16 who don't. And they will never come to that realization until we confront them show them that they really do not believe it. BUT it is not John 3:16 in isolation which will ever change their minds. They are too deeply embedded in error. To be convinced of the truth they need to have teaching about the "one drink," never thirst. Eats bread never hunger, etc. There are Greek "experts" which teach that the present tense of "believe" pisteuo, means "continue to believe," which supports Arminianism and Calvinism. A very recent book, "Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics" by Daniel B. Wallace, professor at Dallas Theological Seminary, teaches this error. And of course, almost ALL other Greek grammars also teach this error, Since both Arminianism and Calvinism and almost every other denomination teach this. In one of Zane's talks, (papers) he cites an older Greek authority who shows that this is wrong."

A Classic Colin Quote

2009-06-07T17:49:00.000-04:00

BTW: Don't let the doctrine of reprobation frighten you. It simply means that those who show that they never wanted to be saved and who loved darkness rather than light and their sins rather than God were passed by and given their heart's desire. It really is as simple as that.

The Carnal Christian: Wayne and Mark Consider the Issue

2009-05-30T11:01:00.005-04:00

The following discusion took place on another blog.

Mark said - the “carnal Christians” in Corinth… What is the standard? Christ Himself? Then wouldn’t we all be “carnal” in comparison? Hodges and Ryrie suggest that one who once professed Christ can even lose faith and become hostile to the things of God for the remainder of their lives. Hmmm. Where in the Bible do they see such an example? Certainly not in Corinth. Even these folk “[came] behind in no gift” and were “waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”. 1 Cor. 1:7. It says that Paul praised them because they remembered him in all things and kept the ordinances as he delivered them to them. 1 Cor. 11:2. What about that great chapter, 2 Cor. 7:7 where we read of their earnest desire, their mourning, their fervent mind toward Paul. What about the repentance mentioned in verse 9?

For the Free Grace Theology proponent’s definition of the “carnal Christian” well, he can’t point to the Corinthian Church.

Wayne said - I guess we all use filters to a certain extent when we read Scripture. I hope we can agree that when the Scriptures use the term “in Christ”, it refers to a characteristic that all saved believers have. IOW all saved and redeemed people are in Christ. Certainly the Bible refers to infants in Christ, but the term “infants” points to a condition that is not permanent.
When a word search of “in Christ” is done a very long list of passages in many different New Testament books reveal a lot about the attributes of those who are redeemed and in Christ. I will not go through them, as they are clear in their meaning. One theme is repeated over and over and that is those who are in Christ Jesus are changed people that have different attitudes and behaviors. They are certainly not sinless and I think you are mistaken when you say, ” This really does get down to an issue of whether or not a christian can sin…and for how long?” No, the carnal Christian issue really gets down to whether a saved redeemed person can remain unchanged after his regeneration and show no effects of the indwelling Holy Spirit for the rest of his life. Sin is not the issue. Good works are not the issue. A new creation is the issue as 2 Cor. 5:17 points out. The issue is can the Holy Spirit be a total failure in His ministry of regeneration and indwelling believers? If the Holy Spirit can totally fail in making a person a new creation in Christ, then Paul is wrong and some people are saved but remain the same people they were before being saved.
This view denies the power of God and asserts that a regenerate person can thwart the will of God. It is one thing to assert through free will that God allows some to reject salvation although they have the ability to accept. However, it is quite another to suggest that God is powerless to change a persons’ heart when he clearly states that is exactly his intention in many places in the New Testament.

Mark said - If one is going to hold to the notion that one can profess Christ and then go on to live a life unresponsive to Christ, only to use 1 Cor. 3:1-4 as a foundation for that notion, then my challenge is that you must be consistent and go on to consider ALL of the information provided in both Corinthian leters. To do that is to allow oneself to do a REAL wordstudy.

Wayne said - Mark has certainly shown conclusively that the condition Paul spoke of in 1 Cor. 3 was not a permanent condition as 2 Cor. 7:9 As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. points out as well.

You say that, “Mark and Wayne are saying some curious things about carnality. …both seeming to think Christians can and cannot be carnal.” A quick skimming of my comments will show that the views I have toward carnality are coming directly from Scripture which indicates that all saved men are regenerate, all regenerate men are new creations in Christ, all men who are in Christ are sons of God, all sons of God are led by the Spirit, and so on. The carnal Christian view that I and Scripture takes exception with is the position that a saved Christian can choose not to be a disciple and reject the lordship of Christ Jesus totally. This is a huge difference from a Christian having a battling indwelling sin. It is not a curious position at all. It is a Biblical position that is supported by Scripture.

To extrapolate and say, “Saved sinners continue to sin. Therefore, a saved sinner can totally reject being a disciple of Christ and sin at will without repentance.” is not a Biblical teaching in anywhere in Scripture. The process of discipleship is called sanctification and the Bible clearly shows sanctification to be a part of grace and all who are saved as shown by Paul in 2 Thess. 2:13 But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. are indeed sanctified by the Spirit. They are led by the Spirit (Romans 8:14).
Therefore, I must ask the following question: Is the Bible also saying some curious things about carnality?

Mark said - An entire system of thought is in the balances here. My comments need to be hit head-on. I will not be veered off of my observations on the Corinthian church.

Hmmm

2009-05-29T08:11:00.002-04:00

I wanna take a small break from my consideration of Ironside and his views on Repentance. Yup, it's time to ponder something.

You see, for years now I've seen folk from the Free Grace Movement claim that we in the Lordship Salvation camp teach a works salvation. But, as I try to follow their logic it seems to me that one must take large leaps in logic in order to see their views here. That is quite a claim for them to say that we teach salvation by works. Can any Free Gracer come over here and fill in the holes that are apparent in your logic?

Chapter 10 They Repented Not

2009-05-26T07:55:00.001-04:00

by H.A. Ironside
http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10453

Chapter 9 Repentance In The Apocalypse

2009-05-23T12:57:00.002-04:00

by H.A. Ironside

http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10452

Chapter 8: Repentance From Dead Works

2009-05-21T08:08:00.001-04:00

by H.A. Ironside
http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10451

Chapter 7: Repentance Not To Be Repented Of

2009-05-19T08:10:00.001-04:00

by H.A. Ironside

http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10450

Repentance Chapter 6:The Ministry of Paul

2009-05-17T21:45:00.001-04:00

By H.A. Ironside
http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10449

Repentance: Chapter 5 - The Ministry Of Peter

2009-05-13T19:43:00.002-04:00

H.A. Ironside on Repentance, part 5
http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10448

Repentance: Articles 2,3 and 4

2009-05-11T23:17:00.003-04:00

H.A.Ironside looks at repentance

http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10445

http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10446

http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10447

Chapter 1 Repentance: What Is It?

2009-05-10T09:17:00.004-04:00

Please have a look at what H.A.Ironside had to say about repentance here, http://www.plymouthbrethren.org/article/10444

This is sure to ruffle some GES feathers!

A New Look At The "Carnal Christian"

2009-05-03T09:10:00.002-04:00

Folks, over the next couple days I wish to take a fresh look at this whole silly notion that there is such a thing as a "carnal Christian". Every Christian has area's of their life that a carnal. Compare your life to Christ, how He lived to please the Father, and you'll see what I mean. But to say that one who once professed Christ can go through life indifferent to His claims upon his/her life is UNBIBLICAL. Many times this terrible teaching comes from those who hold that the Sermon on The Mount was for a future people and who also push Christ's kingly reign off to some future millenium. What terrible things that system has done to Biblical Christianity. To them following Christ is optional for the one who professes to have come to Christ for salvation.

Oops, I just shared all of my closing thoughts to that coming post.

The Real World

2009-04-30T07:05:00.004-04:00

Since January there have been rounds of layoff's each month at the tool-shop where I work. Good machinists and fabricators are being shown the door; being thrown into a situation where nobody is hiring. They are talented, even gifted in their trade. Yet there is nothing out there. Some are in their mid-fifties, missing fingers from accidents on the lathe, with their children's college tuition bills yet to be paid. To be sure they were our company's bread and butter. Now they are treated like manure. And to pour salt into their wounds, after last month's layoff's and scheduling of furlough weeks our CEO told us that we are now poised to take on the future.

What a machine-like view! It's like saying to those who are gone, "too bad for you, but we'll be okay - so there!". No remorse for the fallen.

I guess being machine-like is how you become CEO. You can have it, thank you.

(Lord, save these people. They need to come to Christ.)

Newly made friends, one's I was trying to build bridges to in order to share the Gospel, are now gone. I feel sick to my stomach. May the Lord raise up other witnesses to go into their lives to share Christ with them.

Now they're telling us that there will be even more furlough weeks throughout the year. My wife, who is a benefits clerk in the human resources department, has now had two more furlough weeks added to the one we were told of in January. I'll be getting additional weeks too, if I survive the layoff's. This would be the third time I've been layed off in eleven years, having lost previous jobs when they left the state.

Makes for some interesting times ahead.

Lord, not my will, but thine be done.

April 28, 1973 pt.2

2009-04-29T07:03:00.004-04:00

As an interesting continuation to yesterday's post, and as food for thought concerning the GES, I have decided to link to a discussion I participated in at Lou Martuneac's blog. Here it is
http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2009/04/men-consistently-saw-light-of-zanes.html

Please feel free to share your thoughts here.

Mark

April 28, 1973

2009-04-28T07:51:00.002-04:00

That was the day that our triune God saved me. Since the previous March 8th Kevin Bartlett, his twin sister Karen, and their mother, Betty, had been sharing the Gospel with me. They were careful to tell me that I was a sinner and that Christ was my only hope of salvation. They made very sure that I knew that it was through faith alone in Christ alone that I could be saved. To them faith in Christ and discipleship were all one thing, meaning at the moment that I bow to Him for salvation I was also at that very moment bowing to His Lordship in my life. From that point on I was to be a learner, learning to walk in His ways. To be sure I wasn't perfect in following Him; but boy did my conscience hurt when I veered off course. I had to confess my sin right away. I was and am a learner - an imperfect learner. I confess my sins and He forgives me and cleanses me from all unrighteousness.

Two Vital Messages

2009-04-27T11:56:00.001-04:00

Two excellent and unapologetically truth-filled sermons from Matt Chandler.

1) First, the bad news. Scroll down to 4/19/09 - "The Reason"

2) Next, the good news - Paise God! Scroll down to 4/26/09 - "God Saves"

Listen fast, cuz Matt preaches fast. :)

The Nature Of Free Will

2009-04-26T16:15:00.001-04:00

In my understanding of Scripture, I simply do not glean the concept of an autonomous, unhindered free will. We are always influenced by something. The Bible tells us that the unregenerate person - the one who is at enmity with God, dead in trespasses and sin See Ephesians 2 - is unable to choose anything other than that to which he is bound. Namely sin. Romans 8:5-13 (There's so much more in Scripture on the subject, but this is a short post. Really.)

Trite but true is the adage - we're not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners. Our nature is sinful. That is our essence. And we are slaves to sin. Romans 6:16

And we will remain that way unless and until the Sovereign God interrupts our lives to change us and give us a new nature. And make no mistake - God interrupts and intervenes. He does according to HIS will. Human will can NEVER supercede God's will. Period. Paragraph.

Here's but one example: Genesis 20. Pay particular attention to verses 3-7. There's no getting around the fact that God prevented a man from sinning against Him. Of course there are countless other examples in Scripture of God doing exactly as He wills, when He wills, and how He wills. The Bible is, after all, God's revelation of Himself. Probably the most well known account of God's radical intervention in someone's life is the story of Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus. Acts 22 Saul was doing anything BUT seeking God. In fact, he was actively involved in killing God's people. And, as you can see from the story, God intervened in Paul's life in a rather dramatic way. Then he spent the rest of his life proclaiming the high and holy name of Christ. As an aside, I argued online once with someone who told me that Paul STILL could have rejected/said no to/not chosen Christ. He could have resisted. The only problem with that is...there's no basis for it in Scripture!!!

One of my favorite passages emphasizing the will of God, NOT man is Daniel 4:34-35, which reads:

For His dominion is an everlasting dominion,
And His kingdom endures from generation to generation.
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing,
But He does according His will in the host of heaven
And among the inhabitants of earth;
And no one can ward off His hand
Or say to Him, 'What have You done?'

I pray that God, would not leave us to our own devices. Left to our own will, we're doomed.

Some Thoughts on the FGA vs the GES debate

2009-04-25T18:34:00.003-04:00

I am currently watching the discusion going on between the FGA and the GES on Dr. Fred Lybrand's blog, http://fredlybrand.blogspot.com/2009/04/ges-gospel-lybrand-open-letter.html. The first page is the first two hundred comments. At the bottom of that page there is a link that you can click in order to see the rest of the comments. It is a very interesting read.

I did not comment there because my L/S Calvinism would be used by some to divert attention away from the real discusion.

My own thoughts are that the GES has taken their eyes off of Christ and put them on the salvation of man. From there they zero in on the promises of Christ for the appropriation of eternal life. The Gospel of John to them is the only book of the Bible that speaks as the authority to consult concerning the content of saving faith in an gospel presentation to the lost.

Segmenting the Word of God. Manmade divisions into His Word. This is not the way to go.

To them the gospel accounts of Jesus' life and miracles are merely to put forth Christ as qualified to give eternal life to man. I think the apostle John would beg to differ. Jesus came to reveal the Father. He was the last Word of the Father to a lost world. Looking at Jesus was to look at the Father. Hearing Jesus was to hear the Father. Eternal life is knowing both the Father and the Son. John 17:3. Out of that person's belly will flow rivers of living water, which is God the Holy Spirit.

The Gospel of John is about Jesus from begining to end. He came to show us the Father; not to present Himself as qualified to give eternal life. Know Him and you will have eternal life.

To Be Clear

2009-04-22T08:05:00.003-04:00

I, Mark Pierson, hold to doctrinal positions that would earn me the moniker "L/S Calvinist". And though I differ with MacArthur on how he views 2 Corintians 13:5 I do not shy away from that label. In my spiritual and theological journey of the past 36 years my views that one coming to Christ MUST surrender to His Lordship as well as to His salvation in order to be saved have done nothing but to solidify. In this I differ greatly with the classic dispensationalists.

Over the past twenty years I have developed a great disdain for that system that teaches that only the Savior-hood of Christ should be preached to the lost, while His Lordship should be taught only to those already saved. I believe that it is wrong that they teach that there is such a thing as the "carnal Christian", one who can go on to live a life that is completely indifferent to the claims of Christ after having once made a profession of faith. I do not hold to the "once saved, always saved" mentality. I do not have any respect for a system that seems to throw all of Christ's Kingship into some future millenium, thus changing the biblical face of Christianity wherein Christ's Kingship is experienced within the heart and mind of the truely converted - a true Christian.

In short I fault the system of classic dispensationalism for having altered the face of biblical Christianity. They have put forth a view to the unsaved masses that Christianity is a ticket to Heaven, while watering down the truth that Christianity is discipleship, that one coming to Christ is taking upon themselves Christ's yoke - His rule in their lives - and has then and there become a learner of His ways.

Life eternal

2009-04-20T13:09:00.001-04:00

While reading through the book of 1st John, I am continually drawn to verse 2:25, in which it is written:

“And this is the promise that he made to us – eternal life.”

I’ve been thinking and pondering a lot on this verse, particularly after reading the footnote in the NET Bible, which states:

“The promise consists of eternal life, but it is also related to the concept of ‘remaining’ in 2:24. The person who ‘remains in the Son and in the Father’ thus has this promise of eternal life from Jesus himself. Consistent with this, 1 John 5:12 implies that the believer has this eternal life now, not just in the future, and this in turn agrees with John 5:24.”

Those verses cited are:

1 John 5:12 – “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life.”

John 5:24 – “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

The reason I stopped and lingered for days – still lingering, in fact – on the words ‘eternal life’ in 1 John 2:25 is because the idea of having eternal life now runs a bit counter to the way we normally perceive the word ‘eternal’ when we discuss Christian living.

I think the word ‘eternal’ is most commonly viewed among Christians as referring to what happens to our souls when our physical bodies die.

And yet, I believe what John and Jesus are referring to here is life that begins when a person becomes ‘born again’ – born, that is, in the Spirit by God Himself.

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.” – John 6:44

As an aside, the Greek word helkuo meaning “draws” in the verse immediately above is the same Greek word used in Acts 16:19 (“But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and helkuo/“dragged” them into the marketplace to the authorities”), Acts 21:30 ("And all the city was disturbed; and the people ran together, seized Paul, and helkuo/“dragged” him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut”), and James 2:6 (“But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and helkuo/“drag” you into the courts?”), so it is more than a mere wooing on God’s part with the sinner. I am inclined to believe that God's drawing of us leans heavily on the side of compelling the sinner, more than a mere wooing.

But I disgress. The point of this post is not our understanding of the Greek word for “draws,” but of the word “eternal.” Strongs Concordance suggests that the Greek word aheeoneeos (eternal) means “perpetual, also used of past time or past and future as well.”

I keep bumping into this idea – that eternal is not just the future as we perceive it because we as finite fleshly beings are physically born and physically die. But eternal means that in addition to the future inheritance of life everlasting that we know is to come, we likewise possess that very life now.

Although seemingly a simple intellectual difference in understanding, I think it is an enormous change in the heart when one grasps this reality. Because to understand in mind and soul that we have actual real possession of His life within us this very moment, we begin to understand in our hearts that we possess the strength and power of God’s Holy Spirit to enable us to walk in Him, thus avoiding the very real danger of sin.

As you may already know, John’s reference to Christians not sinning in 1 John 3:16 (“Everyone who resides in him does not sin”) does not mean that Christians never sin. That would be impossible in our tents of flesh. I believe John clarifies this by surrounding verses, such as 3:7b-8 (“The one who practices righteousness is righteous, just as Jesus is righteous. The one who practices sin is of the devil.”) John’s references to not sinning here refer to the continual, ongoing practice of sin.

But more than that as well.

I think John is saying here that the Christian – when truly walking in the power of the Holy Spirit - is capable of not sinning, but only when abiding in Christ, which gives the Christian the power (and, I believe, the desire) to not sin.

I think we Christians stumble because we don’t know the full power of what we possess. We don’t acknowledge that the very real power of the Holy Spirit abides in us, because we are prone to feeding the flesh and not taking hold of the strength that resides in us, if we would only choose to abide in Him.

And so in this, I think that if we truly understood the word ‘eternal’ as more than just endless time from the point of physical death forward, but grasped more accurately the idea of our possession of very real life in the Holy Spirit in the here and now, we would better be able to walk in Him daily, hourly, moment by moment. When we are tempted or frustrated or lacking peace, we can pray in truth and in Spirit for His strength and power to deliver us from whatever fleshly qualities are pulling us away from abiding in Him.

I favor the word order ‘life eternal’ over ‘eternal life’ now, which sounds like a bit of a nit, but it reminds me to focus on the life I have been given now and the power available to me now to overcome sin and truly abide in Him. This is opposed to focus on the word ‘eternal’ as if it’s something temporal that is reserved for some period in the future. We have His life now. We have His power now. We have His strength now. We have, if we will but ask. (“You do not have, because you do not ask.” - James 4:2b)

I am asking the Lord daily – and more frequently than that – to deliver me from myself and grant me the ability to fully – and I mean fully – trust Him. I confess that I don’t always trust Him and His heart, or love Him as I ought – but I do believe that He has given me His Holy Spirit, and by His strength and power, I am able to do these things.

I pray that God grant you the clarity and wisdom to seek Him with greater understanding and truth this day.

Grace Christian Assembly Part I

2009-04-19T19:00:00.000-04:00

Per Mark's request, reposting here at BC. This post is background for the following one:

Question: How do you make a "quick" trip to Nashville from Dallas? Answer: You get in the car and drive 14 1/2 hours there on Saturday and then drive 15 hours home on Monday.

And why would you drive so many hours over two days to get to Tennessee? Well, we did it for the opportunity and great privilege of attending homecoming weekend and Resurrection Sunday at Grace Christian Assembly in Smyrna. As you may or may not know, I've been listening, via internet, to Jim McClarty for several months. Due to God turning our current circumstance around, Roger had a couple weeks off before beginning a new job on April 20th. So we ended up with this small window of opportunity to make the trip. And without a doubt, it was more than worth it. Let's just say that if I lived anywhere near Smyrna (or if GCA were to relocate to Ft Worth), I would be a member in a heartbeat. As it stands now, though, I'll have to be content to be an internet member. :) At least now when I listen, I'll be able to place names with faces and "feel" like I'm right there with them.

Unfortunately though, we missed the homecoming festivites on Saturday. But even in that, we are able to look back and see God's mighty hand of providence in our lives. We actually began the journey on Friday, and were just east of Dallas when Roger started experiencing a little complication of an eye procedure he'd had earlier that morning. We called the doctor, and he wanted to see Roger again, so we had to turn around and head back to Ft Worth (a 2-hour drive). By the time we got back and Roger saw the doctor it was 5:00, so we had no choice but to go home. (The doc thought Roger might have had retinal damage, but he didn't and is fine.) But all this happened after we'd experienced a very rough start to the trip in the first place. The doctor was running late for the original procedure on Friday morning. Delay. Our rental car was late in getting to the Hertz location. Delay. We'd had to wait over a half hour for it to arrive, and then it was a tad dirty on the inside. Roger was fit to be tied; my patience was on its last nerve, and we were seriously going at each other. After the return trip to the doctor, we scrapped the rental car idea, not even knowing if we'd make the trip at all. But we stayed packed overnight, revisited the idea on Saturday morning and finally left about 10:00am. The providential part came into play when we learned that terrible storms and at least one tornado ripped through middle Tennessee on Friday night. We are convinced that God indeed spared us from that. I'm thankful that while we're so busy seeing only what is right in front of us, God sees beyond that. He protects the ignorant and the short-sighted.
Undoubtedly, I could ramble on and on, and probably will in another post. I'm grateful for these new like-minded friends.

Thanks to everyone at GCA for your graciousness in welcoming Roger and me into your church and into your lives. And a great big thank-you to Jim, who not only gave of his time during church and the potluck afterwards, but was so kind to visit with us for several hours on Sunday night. We were blessed and honored by that more than you'll ever know.

Grace Christian Assembly Part II

2009-04-19T18:50:00.001-04:00

As I mentioned in my earlier post, Pastor Jim was kind enough to visit with Roger and me on Sunday night. We fellowshipped over a very nice meal at Ruby Tuesday. We talked about many things, and my life has been enriched for having had the opportunity to know Jim a bit better.:-) Gracious, honest and forthcoming, he is. He loves God, and he loves God's people. And, he wears it well.

In a previous email to Jim, I had asked him about baptizing me at some point. (That couldn't happen this past weekend because of logistics and their homecoming plans.) Anyway, after asking him about doing that, I'd remained a bit uneasy, mainly because I've actually been baptized, and I didn't want to be one of 'those' people who continue in a vicious cycle of "getting saved"/getting baptized over and over again. However, there IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND that God -> removed the blinders and profoundly revealed Himself to me four years ago. No doubt. It was during that time, Oct/Nov 2004, that 'the lightbulb came on' for me. I 'got it.' God graciously, and in His perfect timing, gave me understanding of Who He is and who I am. I "got" that He is the just, holy and righteous God of the universe; and that I am a wretched, depraved sinner in desperate need of a Savior. And it is He alone who, for His own good pleasure and purpose, chose me for Himself and mercifully rescued me. During the ensuing years, I've often wondered if that's when I "really got saved." Knowing full well, of course, that "I" didn't do anything. "I" don't "ask Jesus into my heart" or "choose" Him, and "I" don't "make" Jesus Lord and Savior. Salvation is ALL of God. I also know that God has wrought true change in my life, where before there was none.

So, I mentioned during the course of the conversation with Jim, that I still wondered if that time was when I was "really saved." And in one fell swoop, with one statement and one piece of Scripture, all my doubts quite simply melted away. He said to me, "You were saved before the foundation of the world; God chose that time to enlighten you." I CANNOT tell you what that did for me, other than emotionally, it brought tears to my eyes. Of course I've read Ephesians 1, but apparently God chose this particular time to have someone speak His words to me, and in so doing gave me ears to hear and understand. After Jim said those words, I immediately had the related thought, "my name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life, BEFORE I was ever a glimmer in someone's eye." ;)

God's Word is mighty and powerful, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, it changes lives, never returning void. It is difficult to unlearn bad teaching. That I needed to be able to pinpoint a specific time, date and place when I "made a decision for Christ" is one of them. God is still teaching, and I'm still learning. Gratefully, He has placed a few teachers in my path who endeavor to rightly divide the Word of God and from whom I can rest assured I am taught well.

FGA vs GES

2009-04-18T10:29:00.005-04:00

The last couple of days have been interesting. I've seen both the FGA and the GES reach back to L.S.Chafer as an early forebear of their system. Both seem to believe that their position is a direct descendant of his theological train of thought; yet they are at odds with eachother. Hmmm.

Some in the GES say that their system is actually consistent free grace (consistent as far as taking Chafer's theology to its logical conclusions?), while the FGA says that is not so and point up things that Chafer taught that would seem to suggest that he would be opposed to the GES gospel.

Well which is it?

Chafer taught that there is such a thing as a "carnal Christian". He sought to draw a dichotomy between a spiritual Christian and a carnal one. Therein he introduced a whole new way to do theology - draw man-made divisions into God's word, divisions that are not warranted in scripture. Thus I wonder if indeed the GES is onto something in claiming direct lineage from Chafer, and that the FGA's conclusions are arrived at by being inconsistent with Chafer's way of doing theology.

Let's discuss this... Also, check out http://easygoer1.blogspot.com/

Free Grace Theology News

2009-04-15T07:28:00.005-04:00

Lou Martuneac and I have a history of disagreement, that is true. However he and I have something in common: misgivings about the GES gospel. I will invite you all to visit his blog, http://indefenseofthegospel.blogspot.com/2009/04/open-letter-ges-gospel-aka-crossless-or.html to see what is going on. I can only hope that the FGA is clear as to ALL of the points where they differ with the GES. Just how different are they in the area of rewards, millenial exclussion, the Book of James 2:14-26, and 1 John being about fellowship? What about the notion that the "sons of God" in Romans 8:14 is a merrited position as opposed to the "children of God" in John 1:12 being a position entered by faith? Time will only tell, I guess.

Mark

Wayne and Jim Talk - Is the Bible Truth?

2009-04-07T11:06:00.003-04:00

Wayne, how about we leave this space open for you and Jim to talk about the existence of God? I'll leave the comments to go where you and Jim want them to. How's that sound? Any takers? The comments thread here is all yours.

A Look At Romans 2:17-24

2009-04-03T11:05:00.004-04:00

by Wayne http://sweetjazzycat.blogspot.com/

Romans 2:17-24 But if you call yourself a Jew and rely on the law and boast in God (18) and know his will and approve what is excellent, because you are instructed from the law; (19) and if you are sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those who are in darkness, (20) an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children, having in the law the embodiment of knowledge and truth—(21) you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself? While you preach against stealing, do you steal? (22) You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples? (23) You who boast in the law dishonor God by breaking the law. (24) For, as it is written, “The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you.”

Paul, in this passage was speaking to the Jews who were relying on the law and boasting in God through their possession of the law. While they had a knowledge of the law and thought themselves righteous because they taught others the precepts of the law, they failed to confront the fact that they themselves broke the law. They were attempting to justify themselves before God, through the law, and considered themselves righteous before God by affirming and teaching the law. The fact that they didn’t obey the law perfectly was either not realized or deemed unimportant in their own eyes.

In this passage, Paul is objecting and pointing out the error of their thinking. They had failed to be sanctified through law keeping for the purpose of justification, and Paul is giving them the bad news of their blaspheming God before Gentiles for dishonoring God by breaking the law.

Sanctification through law keeping for the motive of justification is guaranteed to be a 100% failing proposition. Yet, many people today think that law keeping for the purpose of sanctification is the proper way for a Christian to pursue sanctification. In this view, the law points a sinner to Christ to be saved by faith and Christ sends the regenerated Christian back to the law to be sanctified. Paul acknowledges the law is right and good later in Romans, but he goes on to assert that sanctification is through the Spirit of Christ and not the written code. Praise God that grace upon grace saves and also sanctifies sinners. Grace points sinners to Christ for salvation, and grace points Christians to Christ for sanctification.
Posted by jazzycat at 3:23 PM

2 comments:
mark pierson said...
Yes, Paul makes it clear that the law was to point people to Christ, period. Any Christian who thinks themselves not holy enough to claim salvation as their own has no concept of the grace that came through Christ. On the other hand any Christian who is satisfied with how they measure up to the law (which would require them to do some serious watering down of the severity of its demands) has taken their eyes off of Christ and their need for HIS righteousness in their lives. The Bottom line is that our eyes belong on Christ and only on Christ.
April 03, 2009 10:02 AM

Romans 8:28 - 29

2009-03-31T09:21:00.003-04:00

The scriptures are pretty clear: The Christian life is a time of God the Father conforming the Christian to the image of His Son. The things that come the Christian's way are from the Father's hands, and He uses those things as a means to an end - conformity to Christ.

Well, it's been a dark week. Last Tuesday we had to put our dog, Shaker, down. We loved him so very much. What a hole is left in our daily lives. I thank the Lord for bringing him into our lives in the first place. He was a stray. We reported him to an animal rescue organization. We told them that if nobody claimed him that we would be interested in adopting him. As it turns out nobody claimed him. We paid for his shots and he became ours. He was loved, and shown so daily. We miss him, dearly.

The inevitable has now happened where my wife and I work - layoffs and furlough weeks. If one survives the layoffs then that one must take a week in July without pay. This will get interesting. Our eyes are on You, Oh Lord. Where else can we go? You have the words of eternal life. Also we have come to believe and know that you are the Christ, the Son of the living God.

The Return of Bluecollar Blog

2009-03-29T18:07:00.004-04:00

My first entry back on the old BC blog. When I deleted it Blogger warned me that I would never be able to bring it back again. That was OK with me as I had no intention of bringing it back. I just wanted out, period.

Then a couple days ago I went to my "Dashboard" page. It indicated that I was currently managing 7 blogs. I thought '7 blogs?', where? It then showed me that "Bluecollar" was retrievable. I then clicked the appropriate button and, to my surprise, BC blog was restored, albeit with a slightly different URL - mdpmusings4.blogspot.com/, as opposed to mdpmusings.blogspot.com/. It was assigned a new URL because my new "Christocentric" blog occupies the old URL.

Well, "Christocentric" blog will consider God the Father's glory as it is seen only in the Face of Christ. I believe that to be THE central theme of the Bible. Call it "Fulfillment Theology", if you will. On the Mount of Transfiguration it is noted that when the cloud had lifted the disciples saw none but Christ only, and were told by the Father to "Hear Him!".

Meanwhile BC blog will tackle the problems introduced into Christianity by unbiblical theological systems such as classic dispensationalism, its evil daughter, free grace theology; and covenant theology. Basically, as I see it, a system that has Christ share center stage with either the Nation of Israel or the Law of Moses can't be right. Or, another way of looking at it, any system that does not have the New Testament interpreting the Old Testament cannot be right.

"Bluecollar Musings" blog is me, turned inside out. The links there reflect my theological tastes. The posts there are my thoughts and feelings exposed. There will inevitibly be overlap in blog usage between "Musings" blog and "BC". I'm cool with that, though.

Bye for now.
Mark

But in these last days!

2009-01-10T10:50:00.004-05:00

Hebrews 1:1-2 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, (2) but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.

But in these last days!!!!! Verse 1 refers to Old Testament and Old Covenant revelation and verse 2 refers to New Testament and New Covenant revelation. Certainly this means that New Testament revelation should be used to interpret Old Testament revelation. It is clear that Jesus Christ brought a change of Covenants as Hebrews goes on to fully explain. The New Covenant replaces the Old Covenant. Why? Hebrews goes on to say that the Old Covenant is replaced by a better Covenant for which Jesus is the guarantor (Heb. 7:22). It further states that the Old Covenant is obsolete (Heb. 8:13). Yet, neither Dispensational Theology nor Covenant Theology views the Old Covenant as obsolete.

Dispensational Theology completely separates the Old from the New Covenant. For example in the thread of my last post, a dispensational adherent said, We see the law is in effect for the Jews during the tribulation period when Jesus again starts dealing with the nation Israel (Matt 24:20).

Although the New Testament clearly ends the role of physical Israel in redemptive history and brings all of humanity under the gospel of grace, the dispensationalist views a day when Israel will be dealt with completely separate from the Gentiles. Paul’s statement about there being neither Jew nor Greek does not interpret Old Testament Scripture in this view. The Old Testament is used to interpret the New in dispensational hermeneutics. Does this make sense in light of the above passage of Hebrews 1:1-2?

Covenant Theology, on the other hand, holds tightly to the Old Testament and Old Covenant principles. The New Covenant is viewed as the final revelation of a single major Covenant of grace, and there is barely a bump in the road from the Old Testament to the New Testament in Covenant theology. For example, A covenant theology adherent said the following in our last thread: ”I think the problem in Galatians 3:3 is that the Galatians were too reliant on the law without the help of the Spirit of God to seek to keep it.”

Although there are many warnings by Paul to totally reject law-keeping, Covenant Theology views Paul’s warnings on law keeping as referring only to the manner or reason for doing so. Therefore, in this view the Galatian error was not law keeping, but law keeping without the help of the Spirit of God. Does this make sense in light of the Book of Hebrews?

Any thoughts, eplanations or objections?

THIS LITTLE LIGHT OF MINE...

2009-01-09T00:19:00.003-05:00

There is something about the Beatitudes that has always bothered me. I’ll show you what in a minute. I’ve preached through them. I’ve taught them. I’ve translated and exegeted them. I’ve read books written by scholars on them. I’ve read collections of pastors’ sermons on them. I love them. I love their poetry. I love their passion and compassion. I love everything they stand for.

Yet, there is something about the Beatitudes that has always bothered me. In spite of everything I just said in the paragraph above, I’m not sure I understand them well. As I read through them again this evening I had what might well be an epiphany for me. (Quite appropriate following Epiphany Sunday!) I think I may have been interpreting the Beatitudes wrong for a lot of years.

No matter how much I grow in the Lord and in my faith, most of the Beatitudes just don’t describe me very well. No matter how hard I try, I can’t seem to develop the characteristics of the Beatitudes. And I noticed, they aren’t commands! Jesus doesn’t tell his disciples or us to do anything. He simply makes indicative statements about the characteristics of people who are blessed by God!

I’ve never been very successful in becoming poor in spirit, whatever that really means. Nor is mourning a daily exercise for me, although I have mourned deeply at times in my life. Meek? Not a word people often use to describe me. Hunger and thirst for righteousness. Now that is interesting. I can’t make myself hungry or thirsty for food or water. It just happens when I need them. I begin to wonder, “Is this something the Holy Spirit has to put into me? Maybe only God can make me hunger and thirst for righteousness?” Well, that would make sense because anyone who has a hunger and thirst for righteousness would truly be blessed! Merciful? I’ve seen God produce mercy in me. What did I just say? God produced mercy in me? I know I didn’t produce it myself. There it is again; something God did in me! Pure in heart? Again, God has purified my heart over the years I have walked with him. Blessed are the peacemakers. (Notice it doesn’t say “peacekeepers.”) Not just anyone can be a peacemaker. He or she must be thrust into a situation in which peace must be made. Again, a God thing. And persecution; I can’t bring about persecution. God must put me into a situation in which I might be persecuted.

This thinking seems to continue in this introductory passage to the Sermon on the Mount. No commands. Simple statements. “You ARE the salt of the earth.” He doesn’t say, “Be sure to BECOME the salt of the earth.” Same thing with “you ARE the light of the world.”

Then comes the closest thing to a command we have so far, “Let your light shine before men.” (Matthew 5:16) But then comes the rest of the verse, the part we often neglect to consider. Once again I learn that it is not about me; it’s all about God. “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and PRAISE YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN.” So THAT’S what the Beatitudes are really all about! God produces these things in us so he can get the glory! Amen!

Thanks for the space, Mark. And may God bless my friends at Bluecollar in the New Year! Your brother in Christ,

Dave Moorhead

Jesus - You Are My Only Hope

2009-01-08T07:30:00.002-05:00

Jesus, I look to you alone as my only hope of salvation. I am utterly unable to save myself. Be merciful to me a sinner!

That was the heart-felt cry of somebody I know who came to Christ under the preaching of a "Lordship" ministry.

Any questions?!?!

Where's The Pause Button?

2009-01-06T07:11:00.002-05:00

Ephesians 5:20 (King James Version)
20Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;

I was watching William Shatner's new show, "Raw Nerve", the other day. On that show he interviews celebrities in much the same way Charlie Rose does. His guest the other day was Tim Allen, of " Tim the Toolman Taylor" fame. I love that guy. He is a rare talent.

Well, anyway the interview got around to Tim's bout with Alchoholism that he had back in the '90's. I admire Tim for his transparency. That stuff took some guts.

To the Point: While relating his story he told how he depended on alchohol to help him find "the pause button" in his very hectic life.

Hearing that gave ME some "Pause".

Life IS tough for all the saints throughout the world. Whether it be persecution or financial setbacks, layoff's, the rejection of loved ones because of the Gospel, wayward children, sick family members or even death of loved ones, pressure on the job where your next mistake could cost your company many thousands of dollars - like happened to me last June - or worse, a contract whereby your company loses a customer resulting in job lose at your place of occupation.

It's all there.

Don't you wish there was a "pause button" sometimes? I know I do.

But then there is that "little" something that I so often forget...H E I S I N C O T R O L!!!

Thanksgiving in the middle of a trial IS the "pause button".

Perhaps today will be another "trying" day.

Will I remember to hit "the Pause button"?

Gayla and Susan Are Back!!!

2009-01-05T07:54:00.002-05:00

Back in December I offered readers an opportunity to become contributors here at Blue-Collar blog. I am so happy that Gayla and Susan accepted the offer. They will post when they have the time. There's certainly no pressure for them to post. I'm just happy to have them back!

Now that we are up to four contributors I think that is enough. Now there is Wayne, Gayla and Susan on board here. Great stuff!!!

Mark

A Comparative Study

2009-01-03T21:00:00.005-05:00

Between Arminian theology and biblical theology.

If I wasn't already convinced that there's no concept of man's free will in salvation, this would have done it.

Out With the Old, In With...the Old

2009-01-02T15:20:00.000-05:00

Mark has (for reasons known only to him!) invited me back as a contributor here at BC. Very nice of you to do so, Mark. I will do my best to make ya proud, although you and Wayne run circles around this girl. :)

Let the Old Covenant Vanish!

2008-12-29T13:41:00.005-05:00

The Westminster Confession of Faith states clearly that believers are not under the law, as a covenant of works, to be justified or condemned. However, it goes on say in Chapter 19, section 6 that the Law of God binds and directs Christians to walk accordingly as a rule of life informing them of God’s will and their duty. In short the WCF rejects law keeping for the purpose of justification, but endorses law keeping in sanctification.

Does Scripture support the use of the law for sanctification? I think not. The following passage seems to reject the law as being useful for sanctification:

Galatians 3:2-3 Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? (3) Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?

Paul says, having begun by the Spirit (justification), are you now being perfected by the flesh (sanctification)? This does not mean the precepts of the law have changed, but it does mean that sanctification does not proceed through the law. Paul contrasts the flesh with Spirit. Law keeping is an act of the flesh that leads to death, and Paul in the following passage in Romans makes it clear that believers are to serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code:

Romans 7:4-6 Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. (5) For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death. (6) But now we are released from the law, having died to that which held us captive, so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code.

Paul says clearly that Christians are released from the law and now serve in the new way of the Spirit. Christian service is without a doubt part of sanctification and Paul states emphatically that the written code has no place in it. Why does Covenant Theology hold on so tightly to the Old Covenant and the written code? Hebrews 7:22 states, This makes Jesus the guarantor of a better covenant. Hebrews 8:13 adds, In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. Why would a covenant that is obsolete and vanishing away be considered necessary in sanctification?

Therefore, I believe Paul’s objection in Galatians is not only valid for justification; it is also valid for sanctification!

Please give your thoughts or comments.

A Church Plant

2008-12-28T18:02:00.002-05:00

Today I attended service at a church plant that has spun off my church. I enjoyed my visit.

As it turns out John Reisinger has agreed to commit to two months as interim pastor to help this little congregation onto its feet. There are about 45 people involved.

Should I become part of this new work? I don't know. It IS closer to home. It WOULD give me an opportunity to sit under Reisinger for a while.

Hmmm.

Can A Meaningful Conversation Ever Take Place Between A Calvinist and A Person of The Zane Hodges Tradition?

2008-12-26T10:28:00.002-05:00

No!

For one thing it seems they never want to journey far from his claims. They seem to have been spoon-fed what it is that Calvinists believe, and it seems that he had provided for them a number of talking points to fall back on. Whenever it seems that meaningful dialogue is about to take place, BAM!, "the Calvinist teaches works righteousness", "the Calvinist can have no assurance of salvation", "the Calvinist teaches that you must surrender, give up, commit, commit, before Christ can save you".

It's beinning to seem like a gigantic waste of time talking with those people. The conversation can never progress. Every time you try to make a point with them they fall back on a tired talking point. What's disheartening is that three years of conversing with them can go all up in smoke in one comments thread when they choose to ignore and disregard ALL of the conversations you've had with them over the years.

Very sad. My sadnes here is very profound.

Perhaps it is time to move on, and not try to dialogue with them anymore.

Wayne, please let this post stand for several days.

Mark asks Alvin Some Questions

2008-12-21T18:28:00.003-05:00

The following was taken from the comments thread at Rose's Reasonings, under the post "A Thoroughly Lordship Sermon". There I asked Alvin to answer two questions. Please tell me if you think that he answered them both - You can see the whole conversation here https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=17149877&postID=1288987471223489190&isPopup=true

Mark Pierson said...
Alvin,I know I've said something similar to you before, but I'm gonna say it again - I admire your zeal for Christ, and to see souls saved!

Questions:
1) where did that zeal come from?

2) why don't all professing Christians have that same zeal that you have?
12/19/2008 6:01 PM

alvin said...
Hi RoseI couldn’t keep quite if I wanted to, I have such joy way down in my soul from knowing that all my sins have been paid for too knowing I will never thirst again based solely on Jesus promise! And I know He cannot lie! I have the GREATEST message in the world to share with a lost and dying world. That message is for each and every person that Jesus paid it ALL and that’s why He can offer the living water to anyone to take of freely! Paul was compelled by the love of God, and there is no greater power!!!!!As someone has stated on this thread 70% of evangelicals believe that it’s grace and works. And that takes the joy of your salvation away, for the joy of our salvation is our strength!!!!

In Antonio's own words

2008-12-17T09:17:00.002-05:00

Antonio has affirmed agreement to the following statement he made on another blog………

"If it is true that your eternity can be absolutely secure no matter what your behavior is (past, present, or future), then you can get fire-insurance and live like the devil."

If this were true it would logically follow that such a person would have to be unaffected by regeneration, which Paul calls being a new creation in Christ. Such a person would have to be unaffected by the indwelling Holy Spirit in contradiction to what Paul says in Romans 8. It would also mean that Jesus’ prayer in John 17 would have to go unanswered. It would have to mean that none of the fruit of the Spirit of Galatians 5 would change such a person. It would mean that the works of the flesh in Galatians 5 (through which Paul says no one will inherit the Kingdom of Go) would prevail in such a person.

What are your thoughts? Is it possible for someone to come to faith in Jesus Christ and have absolutely no change in behavior even if they a live a long life in this world?

A Better Covenant?

2008-12-14T12:32:00.004-05:00

Hebrews 8:6-13 (King James Version)
6But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises.
7For if that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place have been sought for the second.
8For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
9Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
10For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
11And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
12For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.
13In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.

Hebrews 10:15-17 (King James Version)
15Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before,
16This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them;
17And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Hebrews 10:15-17 (King James Version)

A better covenant which was established on better promisses?

Some suggest that a Christian can fail and lapse into a state of unbelief, and suffer for that at the Judgement Seat of Christ. If that is so then how is the New Covenant a better covenant? After all, according to them, the results are all the same - that is that those within the covenant can fall into unbelief just as the larger part of OT Israel had. These people then are teaching that the New Covenant is not a better covenant after all.

Terry Rayburn Nails It

2008-12-11T08:25:00.005-05:00

you can find him in the discussion here...http://teampyro.blogspot.com/2008/12/soporific-scourge-of-nomicophobia.html#links

...I agree there should be awareness and repentance upon hearing commands that one is not following. But I speak of that "feeling" which comes over Christians when they hear "convicting" preaching -- a feeling expressed within as, "Oh, yes, what a low-down scummy worm I am! Every command Pastor preaches just proves it. I GOTTA pull up my bootstraps and perform better! Surely God must be angry at me. I've confessed that sin a thousand times! I know...I'll try HARDER! Go ahead, Pastor, whip me, beat me. Oh how I deserve it. But I'll do better...['No you won't', the enemy interjects, 'you know better than that']...yes I WILL! Blah, blah, blah."

And so the "convicted" one puts himself on the ground of Law, instead of grace, which Law is the very *strength* of sin (1 Cor. 15:56). He thereby quenches the Holy Spirit and compounds his problem.

The preacher of grace should constantly short-circuit that destructive thinking with the twin pillars of the Radical Grace and the New Creation Identity of the New Covenant.

So that the sheep realize that although they once were "Sinners in the hands of an angry God", they are no longer. Now they are Saints in the hands of a loving Friend. A Friend Who is transcendent, yet indwelling us; awesomely holy, yet satisfied through Christ; having a zeal for His Law, yet seeing it fulfilled in the Son;angry with the wicked, yet fully accepting His children in the Beloved;expressing His righteous heart in commandments, yet having unilaterally forgiven the breaking of them through the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world, so that there is NO condemnation to him who is in Christ Jesus.

They will follow a Friend like that.

New Books

2008-12-09T07:43:00.003-05:00

A few weeks ago I ordered two new books from New Covenant Media.
They are:
"Abraham's Four Seeds" by John Reisinger - A Biblical Examination Of The Presuppositions Of Covenant Theology And Dispensationalism

And

"In Defense Of Jesus, The New Lawgiver", also by John Reisinger.

I'm looking forward to completing both books by mid 2009.

Wayne, I ordered two of the first mentioned book, one of them is for you. Please email me your mailing address so that I can get it off to you.

Also, I wonder who is interested in contributing to BC blog. My writing is not on a par with Wayne. My strength is more in the comments threads, not so much in writing posts. If you are interested please comment here.

Mark

Here cometh the snow

2008-12-08T07:29:00.003-05:00

Yep, it's manhood season again. Once again I shall elect to keep the snowblower in the shed in favor of shoveling. I love putting this near 52 year old body through its paces.

Let it snow, baby!

While other younger men are out with their snow removal machinary I'll just do it the old fashioned way.

For those of you who think I'm one of those uncultured oaf's who goes about while dragging his knuckles upon the ground... well, you're right! (belch!)

God's Intervening Grace and Sanctification

2008-12-06T09:53:00.002-05:00

by Wayne

Since faith itself flows from God's intervening grace, it follows that a saved soul will be influenced positively by the work of the Holy Spirit in sanctification. Calvinism precludes any human effort in being saved, but non-Calvinism depends on the initiative and decision of an unregenerate man to wisely choose his own salvation. Little wonder that such a view produces the idea that human effort is the primary cause of sanctification. Calvinism acknowledges human cooperation in sanctification, but asserts that the Holy Spirit is the engine that drives the process. All the glory and credit goes to God and there is absolutely no boasting involved.

Spurgeon On Saving Faith

2008-12-05T07:59:00.005-05:00

(from sermon 979)
"Now we go a little further. True faith is reliance. Look at any Greek lexicon you like, and you will find that the word pisteuein does not merely mean to believe, but to trust, to confide in, to commit to, entrust with, and so forth; and the marrow of the meaning of faith is confidence in, reliance upon. Let me ask, then, every professor here who professes to have faith, is your faith the faith of reliance? You give credit to certain statements, do you also place trust in the one glorious person who alone can redeem? Have you confidence as well as credence? A creed will not save you, but reliance upon the Anointed Saviour is the way of salvation. Remember, I beseech you, that if you could be taught an orthodoxy unadulterated with error, and could learn a creed written by the pen of the Eternal God himself, yet a mere notional faith, such as men exercise when they believe in the existence of men in the moon, or nebulae in space, could not save your soul. Of this we are sure, because we see around us many who have such a faith, and yet evidently are not the children of God."

Also

"A Call to Holy Living"—a sermon first preached on Sunday morning, 14 January 1872, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle.
It is a very great fault in any ministry if the doctrine of justification by faith alone be not most clearly taught. I will go further, and add, that it is not only a great fault, but a fatal one; for souls will never find their way to heaven by a ministry that is indistinct upon the most fundamental of gospel truths.The merit by which a soul enters heaven is not its own; it is the merit of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am quite sure that you will all hold me guiltless of ever having spoken about this great doctrine in any other than unmistakable language; if I have erred, it is not in that direction.

At the same time, it is a dangerous state of things if doctrine is made to drive out precept, and faith is held up as making holiness a superfluity. Sanctification must not be forgotten or overlaid by justification. We must teach plainly that the faith which saves the soul is not a dead faith, but a faith which operates with purifying effect upon our entire nature, and produces in us fruits of righteousness to the praise and glory of God.

It is not by personal holiness that a man shall enter heaven, but yet without holiness shall no man see the Lord. It is not by good works that we are justified, but if a man shall continue to live an ungodly life, his "faith" will not justify him; for it is not the faith of God's elect; since that faith is wrought by the Holy Spirit, and conforms men to the image of Christ.We must learn to place the legal precepts in their right position. They are not the base of the column, but they are the capital of it. Precepts are not given to us as a way to obtain life, but as the way in which to exhibit life.

The commands of Christ are not upon the legal tenor of "this do and live," but upon the gospel system of "live and do this." We are not to be attentive to the precepts in order to be saved, but because we are saved. Our master motive is to be gratitude to him who has saved us with a great salvation.I am sure that every renewed heart here will feel no opposition to the most holy precepts of our Lord. However severely pure that law may seem to be which we have read just now from this fifth chapter of Matthew, our hearts agree with it, and we ask that we may be so renewed that our lives may be conformed to it. The regenerate never rebel against any precept, saying, "This, is too pure;" on the contrary, our new-born nature is enamoured of its holiness, and we cry, "Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant loveth it. O that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes."Even though we find that when we would do good evil is present with us, yet our inmost soul longs after holiness, and pines to be delivered from every evil way. At any rate, Dear friends, if it be not so with you, you may well question whether you are indeed the children of God. My desire, this morning, is to insist upon the precepts which tend to holiness, and I pray the Holy Spirit to excite desires after a high degree of purity in all believing, hearts.

Hooking up with an old friend

2008-12-03T11:44:00.008-05:00

Yesterday I went to visit my old training partner, Bob, the one whose coaching and influence got me involved in bench-press contests back in the '80's. That's him in the flip-flops in the back-ground, watching my attempt at around 380 pounds. He and I used to work side by side back in the day, back before there were plant relocations to other parts of the world. We used to talk a lot as the job was such that we could. There were numerous times that I shared Christ with him; he even came to hear me guest speak at my church, and also came to my home study. I left no stone unturned in talking to him about eternal things. The time period covered 1982-1997.

These days those efforts of mine result merely in him watching his language infront of me.

Oh, that he and his would come to Christ! All those prayers, may they be answered.

Yesterday I took a vacation day from work. Bob and I worked out together just like the old days. He remembered other training partners that have since died, ones who were themselves world ranked in the sport. Many died of brain cancer or heart attacks.

Old age is catching up. Neither Bob nor I could lift what we once could. The days of being strong enough to compete with men under forty years old are long gone. That's reality. That's life.

Bob is my friend. Funny how that even the unsaved can have a special place in your heart.

Oh, Bob, come to Christ!

Mark

Thoughts on the New Covenant

2008-12-01T10:22:00.003-05:00

In my own studies over the years it became apparent to me that the work of God the Holy Spirit in the believer's life is a main focal point of the New Testament. Yea, it was a main focal point in the Old Testament prophecies of the then coming New Covenant. My own prayerful meditations on the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the believer's life brought me to a place where I was at odds with my Scofield Reference Bible; the very Bible that served as my devotional Bible.

It became apparent to me that His indwelling the Christian and bringing that individual to conformity to Christ was the Spirit's main emphasis. His work is to regenerate one who is dead in trespasses and sins. He works in concert with His Word (the Bible) in the regeneration of that person. He then uses His Word as a tool to sanctify that person. I acknowledge that there is a positional sanctification; please don't get me wrong there - but I also see that practical sanctification is inevitable. That the Christian is to be a temple of God in the Spirit is undeniable. Considering these things brought me to a point where I had to take a hard look at this whole idea of there being such a thing as a Christian who wilfully continued to live a life that was at variance with the commands of Christ. I examined 1 and 2 Corinthians and found that even though Paul called them carnal, yet they were a people earnestly looking for the return of Christ; a people that subbjected themselves to the rebukes of Paul - this despite the false teachers who sought to question Paul's authority - many of the repenting. Yes, this is the same congregation that Paul refered to as "epistles of Christ, written by the Spirit on the hearts, and read by men". Hardly can one find here the notion that a Christian can go on through life cold to the teachings of Christ. You won't find that notion taught in scripture; not anywhere.

Over time I began to conclude that the kingdom of God, at least the present aspect of it - His being in control over the universe and the elements is the subject for another discusion - , is centered upon people being conformed to the image of Christ. Please consider that the Spirit leads all true "sons of God". He changes the inclinations and dispositions of such so that they begin to desire the things of God, including that person's new-found desire to get into the Word. As the Christian prayerfully meditates on the teachings of Christ contained therein, the Spirit brings about a change, so that, over time, that individual's life begins to reflect the life of Christ that is within. This process, known as the sanctification process, also includes the intercession ministries of both Christ and the Spirit as well as the chastening of the Father. It also takes place within the Body of Christ as Christians live and interact with eachother.

Something else should be said at this point - The Sermon on the Mount is a description of the Spirit led life and is to be meditated on in order for the Spirit to do His work of molding the Christian into the image of Christ. Please don't treat the Sermon on the Mount as being for another people at a future time. It is to be meditated on NOW and used as a tool by the Spirit in the practical sanctification process.

Conformity to Christ is why God saved us. In my opinion this is inseparable from the Kingdom of God in its present aspect. Prayerful meditation on God's Word, obedience to it, and living within the Body of Christ are all our responsibilities in this whole idea of conformity to Christ, yea, the practical sanctification process.

Mark

Some thoughts on New Covenant Theology

2008-11-28T10:12:00.004-05:00

Folks, please read the following short paper on New Covenant Theology.

http://fbceny.org/audio/cherith/Cherith_documents/FutureofNCT_Trefzger.pdf

New Covenant Theology resonates with me. As it continues to unfold in its developement, and continues to resonate with me, I shall then actively promote it, and vigorously so. In so doing I shall happily draw fire from both dispensationalists as well as covenant theology... Comes with the territory, I guess.

It comes down to the direction of the life and the regenerated nature of the believer. An athlete, one who truely is one to the core, will pursue fitness. It is his nature. Running, weight-lifting, practicing the moves, a careful diet - it is all his lifestyle. To have his routine interupted brings torment to his heart. Training is his life. He longs to be ready for the contest. He simply cannot have it any other way. It is his nature.

Now, think of the Spirit indwelt Christian. The pursuit of holiness is his new nature, as the pursuit of lust and pleasure was a part of the old nature. In his former days sin was what he lived for. Now it is different. Now he is a slave to God (Romans 6). The Spirit communicates all the benefits of Christ's crosswork to him, including writing God's law on the heart. Now the Spirit moves him to walk in God's ways, (Ezek. 36). For a professing Christian to continue to walk in fleshly ways all the time is to contradict the whole born from above experience.

Mark

Some thoughts

2008-11-26T10:51:00.002-05:00

After the expeiences of a decade ago the Lord has placed me in a machine-tool shop. Our core business is the manufacture of geer generators and geers themselves.

As an aside I will mention that there was yet one more layoff in my life since the one mentioned two posts ago. It too lasted about two months, and took place a mere nine months after the first one. The irony is that, well, remember I mentioned the HR representative, Alicia, who collected my badge from me? She went on to greener pastures. Good for her! But guess what - I was there, as an employee, to celebrate her going away party. As it happens there was a lens grinding operation still in the building. There was an opening. Alicia called me on the phone to tell me that the job was mine. You see my reputation as a model employee went on before me, the boses having been over me before. The job was mine even without an interview. Alicia went on to tell me that there was a catch, though - the whole division was up for sale and the new owners could take the whole operation over to Italy with them. I told Alicia that I needed the job, no matter what. Yep, two months after the sale went through; and after promises from the new owners that our jobs were safe for at least two years, there went my job, Italy bound. So much for all those promises.

Can you say "layoff, part two"?

As I said at the outset in this post I work for a geer generator and geer manufacturing company. Hmm, don't geers play an important role in cars???

The Lord is in control of this too.

I share these things because I know that many of my brothers and sisters in Christ are going thru these same things. I am here to pray with you and to encourage you. We're in this together. But, more importantly, He will never leave us or forake us!

In this together with you,
Mark

The Days After The Layoff

2008-11-24T06:52:00.002-05:00

Where to begin...

Following that dark day were some mental and emotional experiences that only those who have experienced a layoff can relate to.

There were trips to the post office to mail resume's, trips to all the factories in the area - even to those in other counties - to fill out job applications, and trips to the labor board.

It was while out and about that I had to deal with some thoughts and feelings like I've never had before.

I remember at one point watching a delivery man making a delivery to one of those mini-marts. I was at a red light watching him go up and down a ramp, in and out of the back of his truck, with one of those two wheel dollies. I forget what he was unloading, but I remember the thoughts that took over my mind; thoughts that I was no longer a contributor to society - I was no longer a supporter of my family. It seemed like I would never have a job again. Yes, there was a sinful foreboding. I'd never had to deal with such an dark situation before. Now was time for my profession of faith to become more than just a theory. As I said these were feelings that I had never dealt with before. A profound sense of grief was only part of the equation. I can't, even to this day, put my finger on the other feelings involved. I can only describe it as darkness.

Then there was that first trip to the Labor Board to file for unemployment. It was a very cloudy day which kinda matched what I felt inside. The line in front of me was long. It would be a two hour waite. To be sure there was plenty of time to sin against God by looking at the situation rather than being thankful that He was in control. Did I go the sinful route? Honestly, yes. At one point I just stared out the plate-glass doors at the sidewalk just outside. I could not believe the darkness inside. I had never felt anything like it before. To lose a loved one is one thing. This was a combination of such feelings as that plus the sense of failure and hopelessness. I wondered what it was that I had done wrong to get to this point in the first place. I knew of no unconfessed sin. I thought my "confession life" was current. I was giving to God's work. Why was this happening?

Well, the two hour waite was over. I was finally at the counter. And what happens? I found out that I was standing in the wrong line all along. To top it off, the woman spared no disdain for me, treating me like I was some sort of dummy for having made such a mistake. She also seemed to be of the impression that I was one of those chronically umemployed types who likes to mooch off of society. She did not know that I was a many times awarded, long time employee of one company. My awards? Suggestion awards that saved my company thousands of dollars, attendance awards, and recognition for being a model employee. Yep, that's who she was treating like garbage. If she only knew.

Well, I'll spare you the accounts of sleep-less nights and the like.

The amount of time before a job surfaced: about two months.

He was Lord over this too.

More later.

Please Pray

2008-11-23T10:42:00.002-05:00

Folks, one of our bluecollar family is pretty sick. Jim Lush is going to the hospital today due to some terrible headaches. The doctors have been trying for some time to figure out what the problem is. The headaches are very serious. Please pray.

Mark

I CAN'T BELIEVE IT'S BEEN TEN YEARS!

2008-11-20T10:34:00.003-05:00

It was ten years ago today that I was laid off from my job of twenty two years.

How time flies.

It was one of those deals where a company chooses to relocate its operations to a place where operating a business is cheaper. In this case that meant that my job was split up between Mexico and Texas.

I worked for a well-known eyewear company. I plated sunglasses - the lens frames as well as the temples. The job also entailed responsibilities of repairing our plating equipment as well as running our plating solutions through filter systems on a scheduled basis. I actually enjoyed my job.

Well in April, 1997 we were told of our company's plans to relocate. It was now time to look for employment elsewhere. One by one friends started trickling out the door to new jobs.

I was in a bind. The only jobs available in the area were off shift jobs, ones that were 12 hour over night jobs. I thought such a work schedule would really wipe out my family time. Plus I was active at my church in the after dinner hours a couple nights a week. What a tough situation. I decided to waite it out since my plating job was not scheduled to actually leave the area until November, 1998.

The passage of time at work was occupied with training my successor who came up from Texas to learn my job. He was quite a charming chap. At one point he came right out and asked me what it was like to train somebody who was taking my job away from me to another state. Talk about awkward moments. Another thing that had to be done was to pump out the plating solutions into drums for shipment to waste treatment. I must admit that I actually cried while doing that. Nobody was there to see that though since I was the only plater of twenty left at the place by that point. I watched as auctioneers came in to auction off our plating equipment to plating shop owners who came in from across the country. All the equipment that I had operated for all those years was being hauled out the door to be loaded onto giant flat-bed trucks and taken to places like Detroit. I would look out loading-bey doors to see one last time all that equipment on the back of those trucks, knowing I was seeing it for the last time.

All the memories.

Then came THAT day - November 20, 1998. It was my last day. It was the day that I was to report to work to turn in my badge. The office part of the building still had people working. Some secretaries and office workers were still there, waiting for their own end. I went into the Human Resources deparment. Alicia was there. She was very gracious to me at this sad moment. Her time was coming too; but not today. Today was MY time. She was so sweet and gentle to me as she did what she had to do - give me an exit interview and collect my badge. Tweny-two years was coming to an end.

Alicia kinda bent the rules for me as she allowed me go back, badge-less, into the back of the building to say "good-bye" to Danny the plumber. He was busy shoring up the last of his duties at that time. He was headed on to open his own business in a few weeks.

I had to walk past the remaining secretaries, who were sitting at their desks and sharing some moments of laughter among themselves. They did not know that the person walking through their area was doing so for the very last time. Their moment was light, mine was very heavy.

I got to Danny's area, an area where he and I worked together for years. Then it happened. I did not expect it. As I was talking to Danny, knowing it was the very last time I was going to see him and the area where we worked I broke down and cried like a baby. I could not hold it in. he was kind to me in that moment. There I was, an accomplished power-lifter, crying like a baby.

I left the building "walking backwards". The memories. My powerlifting buddies and I worked side by side all those years. I was married while employed there, many of my co-workers were at my wedding. I had my two kids while employed there, again my co-workers were there to share the glorious moments with me.

That night my wife took the kids and I to the movies, just to ease the pain. After the movies, when she and I were alone I broke down and cried again. Karen did all she could to comfort me. Not only did I say "good-bye" to the past, but I was also headed into an uncertain future. All I could do was cast myself on God's mercy. He was Lord over this too.

More later.

Hey Free Gracer's, Gary (goe) and others...

2008-11-12T07:39:00.003-05:00

Now is your opportunity to walk me carefully through this whole charge that Reformed folk preach a false gospel. Now is your chance to show me the error of my ways. I am opening up here.

Please keep in mind that your charges seem only to be a mantra to those of us on the receiving end. Please make every effort to clear this matter up. Please be as precise as possible.

Cristina, I remember...

2008-11-08T12:46:00.002-05:00

Cristina is one of those few people at this blog whose exact birthdate is unknown to me.

BUT, I do know that her birthday is some time in November.

So Cristina I'm a wishin' ya a Happy Birthday today!

(number 52... that makes you old enough...Can I call you 'mom'?) :-)

In Light of the Election: A Command and an Encouragement

2008-11-06T06:54:00.001-05:00

In Light of the Election: A Command and an Encouragement
The command: 1Tim. 2:1-4 "First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Remember when Paul wrote this it was during the time of the wicked Emperors. We haven't seen anything like that yet. We must be faithful and obey the Word of God here.

I'm in good company with my take on John 8:30-32

2008-11-05T06:24:00.001-05:00

Here is Ryrie's comment on John 8:31-"believed". Likely only a profession because of what they said in verse 33.
Ryrie Study Bible (KJV), page 1604

Here is what J. Vernon McGee said about John 8:31-32 - Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is not alone. It will produce something. After a person believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, he will want to "continue in His Word." The proof of faith is continuing with the Savior.
THRU THE BIBLE, with J. Vernon McGee, Vol. 4, page 419

More on false disciples…..

2008-11-04T08:10:00.001-05:00

1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us.

John in this passage describes some disciples who were not really disciples. He clearly states that if these disciples were true disciples, then they would have continued with us! But they didn’t and John said this makes it plain they were not disciples at all.

Isn’t this the same thing Jesus was stating in John 8:30-32?
Therefore, doesn’t this passage show that these were disciples in name only and not true disciples?

John 8:30-32

2008-11-02T17:07:00.006-05:00

John 8:30-32 (Young's Literal Translation)
Young's Literal Translation (YLT)
Public Domain
30As he is speaking these things, many believed in him;
31Jesus, therefore, said unto the Jews who believed in him, `If ye may remain in my word, truly my disciples ye are, and ye shall know the truth,
32and the truth shall make you free.'

John 8:30-32 (Amplified Bible)
Amplified Bible (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
30As He said these things, many believed in Him [trusted, relied on, and adhered to Him].
31So Jesus said to those Jews who had believed in Him, If you abide in My word [hold fast to My teachings and live in accordance with them], you are truly My disciples.
32And you will know the Truth, and the Truth will set you free.

John 8:30-32 (English Standard Version)
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of
Good News Publishers.
30As he was saying these things,(A) many believed in him.

The Truth Will Set You Free
31So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, (B) "If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32and you will(C) know the truth, and the truth(D) will set you free."

John 8:30-32 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
Truth and Freedom 30 As He was saying these things, many believed in Him. 31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed Him, "If you continue in My word, (A) [a] you really are My disciples. 32 You will know the truth, (B) and the truth will set you free."

___________________________________

As I've read this portion of scripture over and over, even in my Bibles on my bookshelf, it seems to me that these very verses indicate that believing in Christ initiates discipleship. Why do the words "remain" and "truely"(Young's), or "truely" (Amplified), or, again, "truely" (ESV), or, and check this out, ""If you continue in My word, (A) [a] you really are My disciples." (Holman Christian Standard Bible), appear in these verses? Again, "you *REALLY* are My disciples.??? Does Jesus see, as the Chaferians do, that the reception of eternal life and discipleship are two different things? If discipleship is truely separate from the reception of eternal life then don't you think that the wording of these verses is a bit odd?

Well it seems evident from this verse that the reception of eternal life ("believed in Him") and disciplship, ("remain in My word", abide in My word", "continue in My word"), are inseparable.

What say ye?

Does Jesus clearly define disciples as believers?

2008-10-31T08:49:00.003-04:00

In the great commission Jesus said:

Matthew 28:19-20 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.

It is clear that our orders from Jesus are to make disciples, baptize them, and teach them to obey. In short Jesus is commanding us to make disciples that are baptized believers. He then instructs us to teach them to be obedient of his commands. Therefore, it seems from this very well know passage that Jesus is commanding us to make one call in evangelism. The one call is to salvation and discipleship. Jesus does not distinguish between the two.

Mark (Bluecollar) made this point in a debate thread on another blog when he said: “Scriptures like Matt.10:34-39, and Mark 10:13-31 show that the call to salvation, and the call to discipleship are one.”

And yet a follower of the Free Grace movement of Zane Hodges said the following: “if the biblical distinction between being "born" into God's family and the subsequent life of discipleship is not recognized, what results is "utter confusion" when it comes to evangelizing unbelievers. The consequences of this confusion can be devastating, not only for unbelievers but for believers as well.”

Who is right? Was Jesus right to command that we make disciples and baptize them as believers and then teach them to obey? Or, should we offer them the gift of eternal life without mentioning discipleship or giving them instruction on the call to obedience that Jesus gives in the above passage? Did Jesus command us to do something that results in utter confusion or was he the way, the truth, and the life?

Also: Should we believe that people are so stupid that they cannot handle the two concepts of justification by faith alone and a life of discipleship without being thrown into utter confusion?

Questions from Romans 8 ????? Welcome goe and Alvin!!!

2008-10-29T08:57:00.003-04:00

Romans 8:9 says the following:
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.

QUESTION! Can anyone without the indwelling Spirit be saved?

Romans 8:14 says the following:
For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.

QUESTIONS!
1) Is it a characteristic of all of the sons of God to be led by the Spirit of God or is it possible for some to totally reject the leading of the Holy Spirit?
2) Is it possible to be saved and not be a son of God?

Welcome goe and Alvin!!!

2008-10-28T07:20:00.005-04:00

Folks, it seems the GES is up to its old tricks of misrepresenting the Lordship position again by saying that L/S teaches salvation by works. I've challenged these brave souls to come on over to provide a direct quote from an L/S teacher that states salvation by works.

Gary,Lordship states very clearly that one is born again instantly when they believe in Jesus. Can you or Alvin produce for me a direct quote from a lordship teacher that states that one is saved by works? I'm am sure that your attempts to do so would be the result of "massaging" the quote just a tad. It would seem that that is the only way the GES position can keep itself alive.

Once a Member of Blue Collar Blog, Always a Member

2008-10-26T17:00:00.002-04:00

Folks, Jim Lush is having a terrible time with severe head-aches and the doctors are at a loss to know why. Please pray for him.

Mark

So lemme ask some questions

2008-10-25T09:25:00.004-04:00

If a political party claims to be reaching out to all Americans, then a former President from that party indicates in an email the desire to have such a large majority in the Senate that the minority has absolutely no voice - well, is that really reaching out to all Americans?

If I work for a machine-tool shop where the CEO and vice presidents within that company make over $250,000, and they start having to pay higher taxes, what is the likelihood that in order to save their profits they start layoff's in order to cut production costs? Would such layoff's limit their ability to expand product lines?

And what of the company's we service; won't they have layoff's too? Won't our machine orders begin to dry up, resulting in yet more layoff's?

A small note: for all you lazy anti corporate America types out there - I once worked for a company for twenty-two years. That company sold the division that I worked for to an over-sea's outfit. I ended up on the unemployment lines, staring out the window while in said lines wondering where I was going to get a job. All the while I understood why the company sold the division. It was a business move and necessary for their survival. Except for occasional short-lived bouts of resentment I can easily say that I am not anti-corporate America.

So please, let's keep it a favorable climate for even large companies to stay in America, and able to turn out whopping earnings. When they do so we all benefit.

Mark the Plater

A New Covenant Critque Of Dispensationalism

2008-10-23T08:33:00.005-04:00

Folks, I 've come across a paper that I would suggest you read. Here it is: http://www.firstbaptistparker.org/documents/PDisp1.pdf

I have many problems with Classic Dispensationalism. The author of the above paper is very articulate and concise. He spells out many of the problems that I find with the "Normative Dispensational" approach to interpretting scripture.

In short, I believe that the arrival of classic dispensationalism changed the character of Christianity in that it presents the Gospel essentially as a ticket to heaven. That is only part of the accomplishment of Christ's cross-work.

In the Old Testament God sought a people to represent Himself to the nations. The people He chose to do this through was the nation of Israel. The command to Pharoh was to "let My people go that they may serve Me". Serving Him was the whole reason why the nation was to exist. But they broke the covenant He made with them for His Law was holy, and their flesh was weak.

Enter the New Covenant. It is based on the "I wills" of God. In the New Covenant God indwells, leads, enables, and empowers His people to walk in His ways. Now He has a people to represent Himself to the world - a people who will serve Him. And He gets all the glory, for, look at the raw materials He had to work with in bringing such a people into existence.

"...the saints will judge the world."

2008-10-22T07:52:00.004-04:00

by Ten Cent Three and a half miles

"...the saints will judge the world."
For some, this statement from 1 Corinthians 6:2 indicates a reward to which the faithful believer can look forward. For them, it's a reward that is either won or lost according to the believers life. Have they done good or bad? Have they been faithful enough? Have they done too much evil?But what's interesting to me is that even though Paul is addressing some very significant issues, he doesn't use the threat of loss of this privilege in the kingdom to come as means to correct their behavior. To what does Paul direct their attention?

In verse 9 of the same chapter (6), Paul does point them to the kingdom. He says, "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?" And then lists out some pretty ugly sins. And he says those people will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Was Paul indicting them? No, because in verse 11, he reminds them that that is what some of them were. What makes the difference? What's the difference between the covetous and these believers who were wronging and defrauding their brothers in Christ? Paul says what the difference is. He reminds them of the gospel. He says, "but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God."Wow, that's powerful. He points to their sin and says it's sin. And then he points them to Christ, the source of their righteousness. And in verse 14 he gives us more powerful hope. "Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power." What a great promise.

And he reminds the believers of somethings else in verse 15. He reminds them that our bodies are members of Christ. And then he reveals to us why immorality is such a heinous sin.

And he says, "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God..." A great truth, of which much can and has been said, but lets look at his closing statement to this argument against immorality."...and that you are not your own?" This is a statement that many do not like to hear. We want to be masters of our destinies. We want to be the one to call the shots, but Paul tells us that we have a master, and we are not that master. Verse 20 says why God is our master, "For you have been bought with a price". Paul, once again, points us back to the gospel. We were bought.

Peter talks about what we were bought with in 1 Peter 1:18,19. He says that we were redeemed, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with precious blood, the blood of Christ. What a hefty price. What an amazing price for the Creator of the universe to pay for someone like me.

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 6:20, therefore glorify God in your body. How interesting that he's not using the argument that we should glorify God in our bodies because we might lose the reward of higher seat in the supreme court of heaven, but shore up his argument with the rock solid foundation of Christ's death and resurrection. He points us back to the master.That's where our assurance is. That's where our security rests. Praise God, that if your faith is in Christ, you are not your own. You were bought. Bought with the precious blood of Christ. Your sins are forgiven and you can look forward to that blessed hope of the resurrection. Now go and sin no more, glorify God in your body.

One of them nights

2008-10-21T07:25:00.004-04:00

I usually get home from work at about 11:30 PM. After some supper I delve into my devotional reading which takes me till about 1:30 or 2:00 AM. Then it's off to La, La Land.

Well, last night my trip into La, La Land lasted only untill 3:30. Yup, I was the only one awake. I could hear both my wife and my son snoring away. My daughter? She just groans periodically. She's done that since she was a new-born. It was just me alone. There was the sound of ticking from our grand-father clock that kept me aware that my sleep period was passing me by.

Oh, to get back to sleep. But it wasn't to be. I could be like some people, and be spiritual enough to use the time wisely and to pray; but I wasn't feeling particularly spiritual. Nope, I just layed there wondering about things.

I did, however, spend some of the time dwelling on the L/S versus the Free Grace debate. I am L/S, but I do differ with MacArthur on some of the issues.

One place I disagree with MacArthur is on his take of 2 Cor. 13:5. I've covered this ground before. I will not go again over that ground. Suffice it to say that I do not believe that this is a challenge for all Christians to examine their standing before God. I lean more heavily towards "objective assurance" (assurance based on biblical promises) than I do "subjective assurance" (assurance based on observation of the Spirit's work in your life). Don't get me wrong here. I believe that the regeneration experience INEVITABLY results in a changed life. But, what I believe to be MacArthur's wrong stand on 2 Cor.13:5 leads to morbid introspection. And, other than when false teachers infiltrated the church with gnosticism and docitism, I don't see the early church worrying about assurance, or whether or not they were regenerate. That seems to be a by-product of British 17th century Puritanism.

I know that many Reformed will disagree with me here. So be it. I've been down that alley of self examination before. I ALWAYS came up short. Just how much fruit is enough for one to gain assurance. With Christ as the standard, well....

There, now that the Reformed have disowned me, and I am not at all in agreement with the so called free gracer's, well...

Then I went on to think about The Four Tops. They lost their lead singer last Friday. http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/music/chi-levi-stubbs-1021oct21,0,3199993.story. Their music was always so pleasant, yea, so powerful, to listen to. I'll miss Levi and that special group that really knew how to put poetry to music. What a loss. Thanks, guys, for such beautiful music.

The Beatitudes

2008-10-20T11:24:00.003-04:00

I swiped this from Gayla's blog. Here she sums up what they are all about...

"The beatitudes

Quite simply, the beatitudes characterize the true believer. They are virtues that mark the Christian. As God continues His sanctifying work, He builds these character qualities in us so that we might be holy as He is holy, that we might live in obedience to Him and in turn, be blessed. They also show us what true repentence looks like. Jesus began His ministry (Matt 4:17) by preaching and saying, "Repent, for the kingdome of heaven is at hand," then, after calling His disciples, he began teaching them:Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.Blessed are the meek (gentle), for they shall inherit the earth.Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."

Amen, Gayla! I'm sorry that a certain system places the beatitudes as something for another people for another time. Sad. Indeed, an atrocity. That practice subtracts a portion of the Word of God from the Holy Spirit's tool-box in His effort to conform each believer to the image of Christ.

Saturday, October 18, 1986

2008-10-18T12:40:00.005-04:00

Happy 22nd Anniversary, Karen!

Mark the Plater

2008-10-17T07:34:00.003-04:00

Dear Senator Obama,

Sir, you most probably will be our next President. With all due respect, sir, I have some concerns:

Sir, I am a born-again Christian, an evangelical, if you will. I pray for this great country of ours on a regular basis. I pray for its leaders, that they will govern under the direction of The Almighty. I pray that the Judicial branch will over-see cases and do so as they properly interpret the Constitution. I do not wish to see them legislate from the bench, as was the case in Roe vs. Wade in January, 1973.

I pray for the Legislative branch, that they pass laws, all the while keeping a keen eye on the Constitution. I pray that no one's rights be trampled, including those of the unborn.

I pray for the Executive branch, that God would lead and guide them into directions that would promote life and lberty.

Sir, I do believe in the separation of Church and State. That said, however, I do believe that the Christian has a mandate from The Almighty to evangelise this great land, calling people to repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sir, my concern is that you will seek ways to hinder that cause. You have made comments in some speeches that alarm me. I feel that you hold evangelical Christianity in contempt. I see that many of your supporters do the same. How sad. How alarming.

I am a small voice, a man of meager means. It would be easy for you to ignore me and my kind. That, too, would be sad, for, you see, it is the prayers of those who pray to the Almighty in the name of His Son Jesus Christ; and also it is the evangelistic efforts of these, that keep this nation from sinking more fully into the grasp of the hosts of hell.

Thank you for your time.

A servant of Christ,
Mark Pierson

Our Daily Thread: Sarah Palin on abortion#links

2008-10-16T08:10:00.000-04:00

Our Daily Thread: Sarah Palin on abortion#links

So ya wanna vote for Obama, eh?

2008-10-16T07:51:00.001-04:00

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=2630

Wake up people!

Consistent Free Grace

2008-10-15T07:20:00.002-04:00

I've seen a lot of that term over the past year.

I wonder about some things...

Those who declare themselves such also claim that their system is the only system that allows people to view all of scripture at face value.

I see an inevitable contradiction here. Doesn't the term "Consistent Free Grace" suggest that a system is employed, and that all of scripture is then viewed through a lens?

Ashley turns 21 Today

2008-10-12T17:49:00.001-04:00

Today, October 12, 2008 marks my lovely daughter's 21st birthday.
~Happy Birthday, Ashley

This 'N That

2008-10-10T10:06:00.001-04:00

Coming up on October 15th is this blog's 3rd anniversary. You can see my first post here, http://mdpmusings.blogspot.com/2005/10/marks-musings.html.

In a coupla days my lovely daughter turns 21. Then, on the 18th, Karen and I will celebrate 22 years of marriage.

The election is just a short time away. Originally I was not too excited about this one. Then came "the Governor". She knows and Loves Jesus Christ. She is a Reagan Conservative. What's not to like? I don't see how McCain/Palin can win this one; but at least this election gave us an opportunity to see that people like her still exist in the political world. May the Lord be with her and her family.

I'm resigned to a Repulican loss this time around. We have that Carl Rove invention sitting in the White House right now to blame for that. Too bad he wasn't really Reaganesque.

The thought of a baby-killing, gun-hating, Christian-mocking socialist in the White House... Karen, where's the blood pressure medication?!

Question

2008-10-09T08:16:00.002-04:00

Who is a Jew?

There does seem to be a difference of opinion amongst professing Christians on this.

Please conduct yourself in a Christian way here.

Mark

Three and a half miles: Crowns and Rewards (Part 1)

2008-10-08T08:00:00.001-04:00

Three and a half miles: Crowns and Rewards (Part 1)

Three and a half miles: Crowns and Rewards (Part 2)

2008-10-08T07:55:00.001-04:00

Three and a half miles: Crowns and Rewards (Part 2)

He's seen so much...

2008-10-07T06:32:00.003-04:00

Fifty-one years ago my dad would take care of my diapers. Now, in his last stay at the hospital, it was time for me to take care of his.

Wow, the things he has seen in the mean time.

My mom and dad had two sons - myself, and my younger brother, Ron.

Throughout the '60's we were a pretty average low middle class family. We were happy, and very close-knit.

That was the '60's.

The '70's were a different story.

In that decade my dad would see the company that he had worked for for so many years decide that if supervisors did not have a college education then they were not fit for that position. Well, as it turns out, he was a supervisor, but did not have a college education. He was demoted. He went from wearing a tie to work to wearing a blue work uniform. He took it in stride. He took to polishing his workboots daily. That was the way he could maintain his dignity.

Also in that decade he would see his younger son go from job to job, thinking that each job was beneath him. He would also see that son adopt a "free-spirit" way of life. How these things pained my dad. I watched him spend time in fasting and prayer, joining his prayers with those of my mother for my brother's salvation.

That was also the decade where he saw his other son, me, almost lose his life in a serious car accident.

What a toll this was taking on him.

In the 1990's my brother began to experience blindness; also he needed a walker to get around. At this same time my mother was becoming very frail. Her congestive heart failure was becoming worse and worse. My dad was now her care-taker - he himself beginning to suffer from a nerve disorder that has now left him chair-ridden.

Then one day in May of 1999 my brother complained of a strange feeling type of head-ache; such as one he had never felt before. He told my parents that he thought he was dying. By the end of that day he was gone. My father was there as they put him on a respirator. By that time my brother's body was twitching, brain-dead. My dad was there just as they shut off the respirator, and my brother breathed his last.

Such sorrow.

Fast forward to March, 2005. Now it was his wife that was on her deathbed. He watched as his wife, gasping for air, begged me to help her breath. This woman who had led so very many to faith in Christ, who had been a helper of the brethren, a prayer warrior, was now gasping for every breath. My dad could only watch, unable to help his poor wife.

Maybe it is a good thing that his memory is gone.

This old earth is not our final home.

Dad

2008-10-06T07:02:00.002-04:00

I want to thank those my friends who prayed for my dad. The hospital is sending him back home later today!

Thanks again for caring and praying!

Mark

Sarah Is My Hero!!!

2008-10-03T10:56:00.001-04:00

The Gospel According To Jesus

2008-10-02T07:34:00.004-04:00

I was talking with a free grace sister in Christ on another blog and found that she had read, and did not like, MacArthur's "The Gospel According To Jesus". During the discussion I asked her what theological system she subscribed to while reading that book. She gave her response and I noted: Interesting what you said..."I went to a Bible College for 2 years that was dispensational in it's teaching...I then attended a very good grace oriented Bible Church at that time.... Also,"Then he (MacArthur, during a radio broadcast) named some men who were wrong on the gospel. Two of those men were Charles Ryrie and Lewis Sperry Chafer."

And I went on: that gives me a feel for what brand of dispensationalism you were involved in. Whatever system we subscribe to puts us on a trajectory that determines what books and authors will either resonate with us or repulse us.

MacArthur came upon the basis for "TGATJ" while studying for an exegetical presentation in the Gospel of Matthew to present to the congregation. He determined not to follow dispensational presuppositions or any other presuppositions in the course of that study. Just a plain reading of the Word. This is why his "Lordship" findings rub classic dispensationalist's the wrong way; because they DO approach these things through presuppostional readings of the Word.

Hmmm.

Christ Crucified

2008-10-01T06:44:00.003-04:00

1 Corinthians 1:23-24 (King James Version)
23But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
24But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.

1 Corinthians 2
1And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
2For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.

1 Corinthians 15
1Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;
2By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
3For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

About The Gospel

2008-09-30T06:57:00.004-04:00

An interesting discussion is taking place at "Heavenly Heartburn"... http://heavenlyheartburn.wordpress.com/2008/09/26/the-heart-of-the-gospel/

Your thoughts?

Preaching Christ

2008-09-27T13:42:00.004-04:00

Here, on this blog - http://unashamedofgrace.blogspot.com/2008/09/escalation-and-rhetoric.html#links there is a discussion about what a gospel presentation to a lost person should or should not contain.

Here is my take -

Christ is Prophet, Priest and King. We must present Him to the world as such. His offices must not be broken up. There simply is no scriptural warrant for that. His kingdom is within each believer, and that with God the Holy Spirit, indwelling the believer. This relationship between God the Holy Spirit and the believer is what the kingdom is all about in its present form. Later, at Christ's coming, the kingdom will be in power and judgement. In the mean time the Christian, being a subject of that kingdom, is the outward manifestation of God's rule to a lost and rebellious world; a world that has broken God's bonds, and cast away His cords; a world that loves sin, and hates its Maker.

You see, in placing so very much emphasis on a future millenial kingdom the FGer has changed the whole Biblical character of the Christian. Old line dispy's present the Gospel as a ticket to Heaven while the Bible presents a much more comprehensive picture than that. The Gospel results in the indwelling of the Spirit, death to sin, slavery to Christ, conformity to Christ - sanctification - and on to glorification. Ryrie, says that since practical sanctification is not listed in the unbreakable chain in Romans 8:29-30 that it (practical sanctification) must not be vital to the salvation experience. What a terrible mistake. I guess that is what happens when one's system thrives by fragmenting the Word of God.

2008-09-26T11:08:00.001-04:00

Worn Out

2008-09-26T08:28:00.003-04:00

I've had four operations across both of my knees. One of the two operations on my left knee left me with some very limited mobility there. I can not fully bend it nor can I fully straighten it, meaning I walk with some what of a limp. And, depending on the weather, that limp can be worse some days than others.

There was a time when I could walk great distances, even after the operations, but, no longer. My old job demanded that I would walk literally miles a day. It too was a plating job where I had to walk the work over to many tanks in the plating process.

Now, however, the effects of those operations are taking their toll. My left knee is deteriorating and needs to be replaced. As a result of my limp my back is always out of place. It is becoming harder and harder to even sit in a chair for any longer than ten minutes.

I am now concerned about all of this. I'm beginning to worry that I will no longer be able to do my job in the not too distant future. There are some days where walking is just down right unpleasant.

Lord, I put this situation into your hands.