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Archives for August 2008

by on 8.17.08

8.17.98 gbcvic sermons

Here are the links for the latest sermons in our ministry at Grace Baptist Church of Victoria, Victoria, BC.

The Moral Man’s Treasure (Rm 2.2-5)

Paul continues to dismantle the justifications of the moral man by noting his agreement that God’s judgement is according to righteousness, but then asking, if that is so, how the moral man presumes to escape God’s judgement. Or, if that is not enough, does the moral man despise God’s goodness and forbearance, presuming it means he has already escaped judgement? God’s goodness and forbearance is intended to lead man to repentance – any rejection of God’s blessing only serves to further build up the moral man’s treasure … the wrath of God to be revealed in the day of wrath, the day of the revelation of God’s righteous judgement.

The call of this message is to those who think of themselves as ‘good guys’. The call is a call to repentance and faith in the only One who will enable escape from the wrath of God.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 8.16.08

on contending

I was speaking to my son this afternoon about the difficulty of contending for the faith. Clearly, we are called to contend. We are told that conflict is inevitable in the ministry. We are told that wolves will plague the flock from without and perverse men will arise from within. We are told to guard the flock of God.

If a man will not contend, or despises conflict in the ministry, he ought to get out and get a ‘real’ job. If you are called to the ministry, you are called to contend.

But contention is fraught with danger. On the one hand, the man who contends may find himself labelled as contentious and a crank. (He may be contentious and a crank.)

On the other hand is the ever present dangers plaguing the church from within and without. And there is the command of God.

May God grant us the wisdom to know when, where, and how to contend.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues
by on 8.14.08

on further review…

A few more thoughts on my DBTS post. (From the department of “can’t leave well enough alone”).

  • The answer to my initial question is “Yes”.

    If you care to check the thread where I interact with DD, you will see that my question, “is this characteristic of DBTS” must be answered, “yes.” Now, what we do with that, what it means for the future of fundamentalism, where we go from here… those remain open questions. Uncertainty reigns.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, Separation
by on 8.14.08

would you have the character to do this?

Church Rejects Donation from Lottery Winner

A church in Florida rejects the ‘tithe’ of a member who won 6 million in a lottery.

In a preacher’s meeting, someone once asked Dr Bob III what to do if someone put a lottery ticket in the offering plate. Before he could reply, I blurted out, “Check the numbers.” Of course it got a big laugh. Me and my big mouth.

But, really, do we have the character of our convictions? Or do we just give lip-service to preaching against the sins of this age?

It reminds me of the joke about the two country fellows who were out walking when one of them says, “Homer, if you had a million dollars would you give me half?”

Homer says, “Sure, Zeke, we is best friends. If I had a million dollars I would give you half.”

Zeke thinks a while and says, “Homer, if you had a hundred thousand dollars, would you give me half?”

And of course Homer agrees. Zeke keeps lowering the number until he comes to this: “Homer, if you had two hogs, would you give me one of them?”

And Homer says, “Now, Zeke, you know I got two hogs.”

Are our convictions real, or are they as strong as Homer’s?

(BTW, I checked the website of the church in question. They would seem to be a good bit apart from me philosophically, but on this issue, I think they are taking the right stand.)

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Filed Under: Issues, Worldliness
by on 8.12.08

another uncertain sound?

Kevin Bauder offers a piece entitled “Dialogue?” in his regular series of articles appearing both on Sharper Iron and at the Central Seminary website as well. You can read the full article at either site to get the full context.

I was tipped to the article by Jason Button over at Theosource, where he posted his initial reaction, then we had a bit of a conversation about it. There is an ongoing discussion over at SI which produced some interesting comments. I wonder if anyone commenting really understands what the article is about. It appears that some are disagreeing with it from opposite sides of the fence. [Or maybe I just don’t understand the comments.]

I think the confusion [perhaps just my confusion] comes because the article itself is vague, barely giving enough details to provide some context and certainly not enough specifics to answer the question, “Now what?”

With this post, I’d like to point out where I think some of the confusion arises…

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, Separation
by on 8.11.08

a little eclectica

I am in the midst of rebuilding my lawn after having a new $eptic $y$tem installed, so I am too busy for blogging. But let me note a few things of interest to me lately…

Nasa is Taking Shots at the Moon

There are places on the Moon where the sun hasn’t shined for millions of years [sic]. Dark polar craters too deep for sunlight to penetrate are luna incognita, the realm of the unknown, and in their inky depths, researchers believe, may lie a treasure of great value.

NASA is about to light one up.

For Church History Buffs
  • Christianity Today’s Liveblog provices a list of favorite Church history sites. Two I knew about, but three are new and look promising.
So, what do you think of Video Games?
  • The Canadian Christianity site has an article that raises some concerns about the addiction of many to gaming. A real concern, I think, but a typically too weak response in our child-centered era. (I think every branch of conservative Christianity is too weak on this, including Fundamentalism.)

And last, for now…

What gives with this Muslim-Christian conference?
  • And did the Christians involved give away too much in the process? And what should a prominent Minnesota Baptist pastor say to another prominent Minnesota Baptist pastor this time? [Probably he should say more than he will say, I reckon.]

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Filed Under: Church History, Issues, Separation, Space, Worldliness
by on 8.10.08

8.10.08 – gbcvic sermons

Paul Gets Personal (Rm 2.1)

We move into the second chapter of Romans, a chapter where Paul will ‘kick it up a notch’. Moving from ‘they’ to ‘you’, Paul first of all brings the full weight of Holy Spirit conviction against the pride of the Amen corner, those who listen to Paul’s indictment of mankind in Rm 1 with approval. Do you judge those sinners worthy of God’s condemnation? You have just approved God’s condemnation of yourself since you do the same things.

The Reality of Demons (2)

In which we consider further the Bible’s teaching concerning the origin of the demonic host and the confinement of some demons.

Son of David, Have Mercy (Lk 18.35-43)

In our series looking at prayers to Jesus, prayers of Jesus, or mentions of prayer connected with Jesus, we come now to the prayer of the blind Bartimaeus, calling on the Son of David for mercy. The Lord says that his faith saved him. We connect this with C. H. Spurgeon’s testimony of salvation from his autobiography – a conversion that came when a blind soul finally saw Christ for who he is.

~~~

Attendance was up a bit today. Last week a family visited for the first time and returned today. It is always a blessing to see new folks, but it does take time for them to fully assimilate into the congregation. In addition we had a second visit (after some months) from a single man. He spoke to me after the service and says he is going to try to make it every week. He is a new believer and growing in the faith. Praise the Lord!

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 8.7.08

the separatism of Bob Jones Sr.

In some of our recent discussion, Pastor Tracy Pennock asserts that Bob Jones, Sr., was not a separatist but rather followed the pattern of John R. Rice when it came to so-called ‘secondary separation’. I have argued that he is misinformed concerning Bob Jones, Sr.

This evening, I discovered an unlikely ally in making my point: Christianity Today.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, Separation
by on 8.3.08

8.3.08 – gbcvic sermons

Our Sunday sermon summaries. I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord.

Opposition to ALL Ungodliness (Rm 1.32)

Our concluding message to Romans 1 sums the argument so far concerning the ungodliness of mankind with two final thoughts: First, man’s rebellion is not only against the knowledge of God from general revelation and the knowledge of right and wrong from the nature of things, but man’s rebellion is also against the innate knowledge of the righteous decree of God that sin is worthy of death. Second, man’s rebellion includes the attitude that applauds the sins of others, whether they are participated in or not.

The Reality of Demons

In which we discuss the implicit assumption of the reality of demons in the Scriptures. We also note the Scriptural focus is not on demonology, rather the truth of what we know on this doctrine is incidental to the message of Scripture. We should maintain the same perspective on demons that the Bible does.

Just as the Lord Commanded (2) (Lev 8.1f)

In our last communion service, we looked at the parallels in the ordination of Aaron with the ministry of our high priest, Jesus Christ. But there is more to this chapter than Aaron, there is the ministry of Moses. Moses is a parallel or precursor to our Lord as well, in his role as The Prophet who prefigures Christ. The first Prophet really opened the door for the nation of Israel to have access to God, the second Prophet opened the door for all men to have redemption from sin and eternal life with God.

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 8.1.08

a cool little blogging tool from Logos

I just discovered RefTagger, a plugin for WordPress available free from Logos. You can find it here. The plugin recognizes Bible references in your posts and creates a little popup that shows the verse you referenced and a link to the reference at biblegateway.com. Here are a few samples:

Jn 3.16

John 3.16

Jer 33.3

Amos 1:1f

Isa 6:1ff

Rom 3.21-26

Maybe you knew about this already, but having just found it, I had to play with it a little and see how it works.

Right now, it only links to NLT, ESV, and KJV, although many other versions are planned (and are listed on the options page for setting the plugin up).

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UPDATE: It appears that the ‘ff’ tag isn’t working, even though the Logos site says it does. Still, a nice little addition.

Filed Under: Blogosphere, Fun and games, General Interest
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