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by on 7.27.08

7.27.08 gbcvic sermons

I was out of town preaching for my good friend Darren Hammermeister today, so my son, one of our deacons, and a young man in our church stood up and took my place. They each did a credible job serving our Lord today. Included in our day’s events is a testimony from my daughter, recently returned from a summer mission team to Mexico.

Where is Your Confidence? (Phil 3.1-10)
Rory Johnson

Our pastor’s son, Rory Johnson, preached in our pastor’s absence. His message asked the question, ‘Where is Your Confidence?’ That is, for your eternal life, do you place your confidence in your works or the works of another? Do you lay aside anything in your life that you might think important for the goal of laying hold of Christ?

The Action and Reaction of a Faithful Man (Gen 5-7)
Harry Lloyd

One of our deacons preached in our pastor’s absence. His message centred around the faithfulness of Moses as a servant of God. He challenged all of us to faithfulness in our own walk with God.

Mexico Mission Team Testimony
Susan Johnson

Our pastor’s daughter gave a testimony concerning her recent mission trip to Mexico. Susan recounts opportunities for soul-winning and ministry she experienced in Mexico and testifies to our need to depend on the Lord in every circumstance. (8 min.)

Elisha and God’s Protection of Israel (2 Ki 6.8-23)
Allan Farrant

One of our young men preached in our pastor’s absence. Allan’s message focused on the protection the Lord provided for Israel through Elisha in 2 Ki 6. He called us to faith and trust in the Lord in our personal lives as well.

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 7.25.08

a little catching up

A busy week – our summer has been full of events, work, blessings, and challenges.

Some of the challenges came in the last two weeks.

  • An e-mail notice from a church member saying, essentially, ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you.’ Sigh. Of course, we’ll try to call.
  • A discovery of a failed septic system at our house. Ouch. $11K later… my son calls our yard “Johnson Ground Zero”
  • A rock heaved through my truck’s back window, damaging front windshield and dashboard as well. At least I have insurance! So now I have a slider vent window in the back for ‘only’ $200 – the deductible.

But blessings too!

  • My sweet daughter returns from her summer in Mexico with the BJU mission team. Many stories. Much enthusiasm for Christian service. And of course, just having her home! What a blessing.
  • A young couple visited again last Sunday. Third time in the last six weeks. Encouraging. Hopeful. The future of the local church is built through the commitment of couples like this.
  • Regular meetings with one of our young men. A help to his spiritual life, I think. He will be filling one of our preaching slots Sunday, along with my son. I’ll be away preaching for a friend.
  • And speaking of septics… We have a 65 suite condo going up next to the church building. They have been driving HUMONGOUS trucks all over our septic field. We finally had enough of that and will get hooked up to the city sewer … for free! Yay! Now we can expand our parking lot over the old field.

And something I found a little funny today, in the politics way:

I am thinking next month will slow down, but that might be wishful thinking. I still have a lawn to put in (and a window sitting in my basement to install) and the ongoing work of the ministry. There’s never a dull moment around here.

don_sig2

Filed Under: Fun and games
by on 7.22.08

parsing Doran

In the comments to my ‘still no middle ground’ post, I made this comment to Dave Doran:

When Dever posted his response on 9marks to the Minnick interview, your answer (very early in the thread) was excellent. But on the other hand, you have said other things at other venues that seem disconnected with fundamentalist philosophy. Here I am thinking specifically of your recent message at the FBF conference and your speaking at a church in the “MacArthur orbit” not too long ago.

In response, Dave said this:

I’d be interested to hear what your concerns about the FBF message are. … I suppose I should say, I am interested in your concerns, but not likely to engage in much discussion over them simply because I am trying to cut back on blog discussions currently. So, please do offer your assessment and I will attempt to listen carefully, just probably won’t respond lest I find myself in a long discussion.

Well folks, I am not sure of the wisdom of publishing this commentary. This could too easily be construed as a personal attack. My focus is on what Dave said and what it seems to convey about the directions fundamentalist leaders are taking (i.e., mostly inaction while the younger set speculate about the future of fundamentalism).

So at the outset, let me offer my appreciation to Dave for requesting a more detailed assessment. I am not planning an extended discussion of this beyond this post. As Dave mentioned, understanding our busy schedules and the need to minimize some of the blog activity, I will let his response stand as is though I may add a point or two if absolute clarity is needed.

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Filed Under: Doran, Fundamentalism, Issues, Personalities, Separation
by on 7.22.08

is it just me…

Or is this an example of the old New Evangelical strategy of infiltration? Is the strategy being suggested in this series of posts ethical? Should godly laymen join churches that aren’t quite right (because no good one exists locally) and be a ‘stealth’ member for reform?

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P. S. Silly me! I forgot! New Evangelicals don’t exist any more.

Filed Under: Issues, New Evangelicalism
by on 7.20.08

7.20.08 gbcvic sermons

Our messages for today…

Given over to a Depraved Mind (Rm 1.28-31)

a ‘bouquet’ of spiritual weeds

The consequences of human rejection of God includes the sins of inhumanity towards men – a whole plethora of wickedness, self-will, envy, pride, wholly lacking in any good thing. The root of these sins is idolatry, as in the sins of sensuality previously covered. The man who will not approve of God is given over to a disapproved mind – he cannot think straight and will not live straight. Any mind that approves these sins, to that extent at least, also disapproves of God.

Satan’s World

In which we take our final look at the doctrine of Satan, the adversary of man. In this lesson, we consider the teaching of Bible meaning of the term ‘world’, the authority of Satan in that world, God’s plan for the world, and the Christian’s place in the world.

Suffer the Little Children (Mt 19.13-15)

Our passage is not one we usually think of in connection with prayer, but it is said here that the parents of these children brought the little ones to the Lord for his blessing and prayers. Our Lord in this story teaches us something about salvation and something about his compassion for children. He does not teach us something about infant baptism, as some erroneously teach. Our Lord’s interest in children behooves his disciples to likewise be interested in the children of the local church, ministering to them to aid in their conversion and discipleship.

~~~

A good day in church today, a few folks away, but the third visit from a new family with two young children. They seem to be getting used to us, we hope that they will commit to involving themselves in our ministry. It was a blessing to be able to minister to them again this week.

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 7.18.08

a few more notes from the Calgary discussion

I’d like to wrap up my reporting of our discussion in Calgary led by pastor Mark Minnick. Our subject was Conservative Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism, an afternoon discussion session at the annual meeting of the Western Canada Baptist Fellowship.

My first report is here and my most recent, and perhaps most significant report is here.

This post is going to be a bit of a hodge-podge, just a few random thoughts from my notes that I didn’t include earlier, but thought worthy of your attention.

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Filed Under: Fundamentalism, Issues, Minnick, New Evangelicalism, Personalities, Separation
by on 7.17.08

thanks, mom

My wife is in Alberta visiting my parents while two of our kids are at camp.

The other day, my wife shared with my parents the video of our oldest son’s wedding (just over a year ago). My parents didn’t feel up to travelling all the way to Greenville, so this was their first look at the DVD.

My mom’s comment after the video (I conducted the ceremony, so catch this admiring mom comment!):

“He could have told them a lot of that in private counselling and made it shorter.”

Moi? Long? Perish the thought!

Thanks, mom!

don_sig2

Filed Under: Family, Personal
by on 7.14.08

still no middle ground

Some ongoing reflections on a discussion about “Conservative Evangelicals and Fundamentalists” held in Calgary, AB, June 27, 2008.

See earlier notes here.

Perhaps the most interesting question on our minds for this discussion is just what Pastor Minnick thinks can be done in cooperation with conservative evangelicals. The question was raised by Mark Dever in his recently published interview of Pastor Minnick this way:

“What would we have to do to change for you to be free to preach here?”

The same question has been discussed here and here with the majority of commenters seemingly unsatisfied with the specificity of Pastor Minnick’s answer at that time. You will see a commenter raising the question again in my last post on the subject and the question was raised both in the public discussion in Calgary and in personal conversation. The question is being framed in different ways, but essentially it is the same question. Dever’s articulation of it is as good as any.

Apparently, some are of the mind that very little prevents someone like Pastor Minnick from being free to preach at a Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Some have said that it is merely the connections with fundamentalist institutions that prevent such cooperation.

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Filed Under: Dever, Fundamentalism, Issues, Minnick, New Evangelicalism, Separation
by on 7.13.08

7.13.08 gbcvic sermons

The latest from our pulpit…

Given over to Degrading Passions (Rm 1.26-27)

We come to a difficult passage in the revelation of God’s wrath against ungodliness … not difficult to understand, but difficult to preach in our current antagonistic culture. The manifestation of God’s wrath in this case takes the form of degrading passions. The prevalence of these passions flaunted in public today are evidence of God’s wrath pouring out upon Western civilization. We must not trivialize God’s antagonism towards our culture, nor may we ignore its lessons. For us to have access to God, we must acknowledge our need as sinners first – there is no grace for those who think they have no need.

The Activities of Satan (2)

In which we conclude our look at what Satan does, this time in relation to the Nations, to the Unbeliever, and to the Believer. Satan is active in deception, no matter who is his target. He attempts to lead men into cooperation with his agenda (at least) or even into adoption of his goals and priorities.

A Saving Prayer (Lk 18.9-14)

To me, this is one of the most convicting passages of Scripture, the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican. We are very familiar with this story, and we tend to think of ourselves as this publican. After all, we aren’t like the Pharisee: proud, arrogant, self-sufficient… No we are much more like the Publican, and we are grateful to God that we are. “God, I thank you that I am like the Publican, and not like other men, like those Pharisees, and my neighbours who won’t darken the door of a church, and my co-workers who blaspheme God, and …”

Yes, we are like the Publican, aren’t we?

~~~

May the Lord use these for a blessing to all who hear.

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Filed Under: Sermon Summaries
by on 7.11.08

some sympathy for the sheep

… from an under-shepherd.

The last two weeks have been overtime weeks for me. Our men and I decided to renovate our fellowship room – to improve insulation and keep our heating costs somewhat in control next winter.

Of necessity, I became the designated painter for the project. [Note: this is not due to skill but due to availability.] Two days of painting last week, and two days of painting this week added hours to my responsibilities.

This is not a complaint, but an observation. In the midst of all this, I managed to listen to a Minnick message from his Whetstone Conference last summer on the value of personal devotional time for ministers. Yes! It is valuable. But…

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Devotions, Pastoral Theology, Prayer, Revival, Spiritual Life, Worship
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