Here is another round of messages from our pulpit. It is a great joy to be able to teach and preach God’s word. We had a young lady visit today for the first time, we are hopeful she will return. She actually stayed for the whole day. Several of our younger folks were able to spend a little time visiting with her which is a help, I am sure.

Here are the summaries:

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The Suppression of Natural Religion (Rm 1.19-20)

As we continue in Romans, we discuss the almost pathological effort of men to suppress the truth about God plainly seen everywhere around us. In our city, we have a beautiful and world-famous garden, the Butchart Gardens. When you look at the gardens there, you see on display evidence of a master gardener. But what do you see when you look at a rose, for instance? Evidence of someone far greater than any master gardener – you see the wisdom, intelligence, power, creativity, and transcendance of God. And you are without any excuse before Him.

The Organization of Angels (1)

In which we begin a consideration of the number and rank of angels. We caution against reading too much into the references about angel hierarchy, but are pulling out a few threads of the Biblical tapestry to see what we can know from the Bible about God’s order among the angels.

The Priest’s Part (2) (Lev 7.11-36)

We continue in Leviticus for our monthly communion service. Our passage today is a continuation of the repetition of the five main sacrifices (Lev 6-7) where Moses emphasizes particular matters of concern to the priests. In this message, we make several applications to our own lives and worship, but close with a comparison of the fellowship between priest and people in the ‘peace’ or ‘fellowship’ offering and the fellowship between saint and Saviour in our communion service. What a precious blessing our fellowship with Christ is!

God is Against Sin (Rm 1.18)

As we begin to look into detail at Paul’s exposition of man’s problem we come to his proposition, Rm 1.18. I sum it up in our title, ‘God is Against Sin’. God is completely against sin, God is against all sin, God is against sin whether sinners accept it or not. The significance of this truth is that God is against sin, but not sinners. Since man’s condition is so desperate, only righteousness from God can solve it.

The Nature of Angels (2)

In which we conclude our discussion of the nature of angels as spiritual beings, immortal, higher than men [but lower than God], and originally holy.

Rory Johnson: Willing to follow His Will (Ac 16)

My son Rory returned home from after his sophomore year at BJU. He is training for the ministry so we often give him preaching opportunities when he is home. This summer he will be leading a teen/college age Sunday School class for us.

In preparation for his class surveying the book of Philippians, Rory prepared a message on Acts 16, the record of the founding of the Philippian church. The theme of the message is submission to the Lord’s will, as seen in Paul’s life in this chapter.

Our last night of evangelistic services came tonight. Our only visitors were friends and fellow BWM missionary-church planters, Bill and Norma Carter. We had good attendance from our own people, including some who only attend occasionally.

The meetings closed out with another fine, Biblical evangelistic message, this time from Isaiah 53. Here’s the summary:

All We Like Sheep (Isa 53.6)

Our last message of the evangelistic meetings concerned the message of Isaiah 53.6. Evangelist Ken Lynch described the waywardness, willfulness and wickedness of man … and the wonder of our Saviour. O that men would hear him!

We had another excellent night in our services with a fine message and blessed special music. A couple of visitors, but this time no outward signs of any spiritual work in hearts. I spoke with one of them afterward and there is an area of mutual interest where I think I may be able to do some follow-up work. Pray for the ongoing work of the Spirit.

The Rich Young Ruler (Mt 19.16-22)

Evangelist Ken Lynch brought another powerful evangelistic message in our service tonight concerning the rich young ruler. He emphasized that the rich young ruler was respected, religious, and respected Christ. He was rich, but his riches could not obtain the sense of loss he experienced in his life. To his loss, his earthly mindset was fixed on making a deal with Christ so that he could obtain eternal life. What a tragedy … eternal life was available for him, but he would not do the one thing that was needed most of all, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Vision of Isaiah (Isa 6)

Evangelist Ken Lynch brought another powerful message for us tonight from Isaiah’s vision. Men reject what little they know of God, but if they would look at the Lord and who he is, if they would look at themselves as they really are, they would beg and plead God for pardon for their sins. Bro. Lynch gave us a closing illustration that brought out the difference between men who value pardons and men who do not.

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The service was a real blessing with more special music from bro. Lynch. We had two visitors, one of whom asked for spiritual counsel after the service. We hope to be able to have further opportunities with this one to help understand the gospel.

Blessed are the Forgiven (Ps 32.1-5)

We are blessed these next four days to have Evangelist Ken Lynch speaking (and playing various instruments) in our services. Brother Lynch first visited our work about 14 years ago while on vacation with his family. We are glad to see him return for special meetings with us.

The first message of the day was a sound exposition of the condition of sin, the consequences of sin, the conviction of sin, the confession of sin and the cancellation of sin. The message was a thorough examination especially of the condition of sin and its confession. There was no doubt concerning the solution for the sinner: turn to Christ, have your sins forgiven, covered, and cancelled.

The Lord Proves You (Dt 13.3)

In our Bible Study time, bro. Lynch began a message from Dt 13. In the first part of the message, he emphasized the fact that the Lord works in our lives, bringing even false prophets in contact with us (as well as other trials) to prove or test our need of the Lord … and the quality of our relationship with Him.

Responsibilities to the Lord Thy God (Dt 13.4)

Concluding the message from earlier in the day, bro Lynch emphasized our relationship to our personal God and our responsibilities to walk with Him, obey Him, and serve Him.

Today’s messages were a great blessing to us all. I believe brother Lynch fulfilled the mandate of Eph 4 where Paul says evangelists (among others) are God’s gift to the church to equip the saints for the work of the ministry.

We begin our summer ministry with almost all of our family home! What a blessing to see four of our five in our pews! God bless our oldest, serving on the foreign field (i.e., the USA!!).

Now for today’s summaries:

The Sinfulness of Sin (Rm 1.18-3.20)

Our message is a preview of the whole section of Romans where Paul proves that all men are sinners without exception. First, Paul shows the downward spiral of sin, then proves that the moral man and the religious man are not immune from sin’s pervasive influence and condemnation. He argues that the Jews are privileged, but still sinners. He shows how the Scriptures indict every man. There is no escape, all are sinners. ‘But now,’ the next section will begin, ‘but now there is righteousness from God without law.’ As William Newell said, Paul’s indictment of sinners is not one of eternal damnation but one of at-the-present-moment under condemnation. There is hope, if the sinner will but now repent and believe.

The Nature of Angels (1)

In which we begin to discuss the nature of angels as persons and as spirit beings.

The Priest’s Part (1) (Lev 6.8-7.10)

We look at a repetition of the sacrificial system, this time from the perspective of the priests. From this revelation we see the responsibility of the priests for maintaining the perpetuity, the holiness and detailed ritual of the Levitical system. New Testament worship can no less be concerned about reverence, holiness, and pleasing God.

My family and I were in Greenville, SC, last Saturday for the graduation of my daughter from BJU. On Sunday, I preached at Faith Baptist Church in Linville, NC, pastored by my son’s father-in-law, my friend Brad Calhoun.

I repeated my message from Feb 3 concerning The Ministry of Christians to One Another and taught a lesson condensing our recent two part study on the nature of Christian fellowship. I also preached a new message based on the study of fellowship entitled “Partners Together with God” (audio not available).

We had a blessed time in this mountain church. The people of the church greeted us warmly and are faithfully working to build up a testimony for the Lord in a small mountain community.

In the meantime, back in Victoria, our pulpit was very ably supplied by Pastor Tom Nieman, retired pastor from Kent, WA. Pastor Nieman is a stalwart in the Northwest, a key leader among the FBF men in our area. I very much appreciate his ministry. The first message he preached for our people was one I heard him preach at our FBF meeting in February. I requested that he preach it again here. The links and summaries follow, although I think I need to edit the audio for volume (a little experimentation with our new digital recording software is in order).

The Glory of God

In our pastor’s absence, Tom Nieman, retired former pastor of Galilee Baptist Church, Kent, WA, filled our pulpit.

This message is a masterful survey of the theme of God’s glory through the Scriptures. It is well worth your consideration and meditation. May the glory of the Lord truly come!

The Bible Jesus Knew and Used

Pastor Nieman continues as our pulpit supply today. This message is a discussion of the authority of men vs. the authority of the Word of God.

How Much we Have in Christ (Eph 3.17-18)

Pastor Tom Nieman continues in pulpit supply with a message concerning our riches in Jesus Christ.

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I’ll have a few more posts shortly. I saw several interesting things in my last week of travels that I’d like to point out to you all. But now it is off to a Bible study on our first day home.

Today marks a new era in our church… we are fully digital in our recording. Hopefully this will make for better quality in the sound. We are also able to put the messages up much quicker than before. Our afternoon service let out just over an hour ago, and our messages are on the web. Now for a nap!

But first, here are our summaries:

The Preacher and his Preaching (Rm 1.1-17 review)

Having come to the end of Rm 1.17, we gave this morning to review of our work through Romans this far. Six months of preaching, 24 messages, and 17 verses…

The central idea of this message is that you must accept the credentials and message of the apostle Paul in order to have the gospel at all. Paul introduces himself, his plan, and his message in these verses. For the content to benefit the Romans (or any one) in any way, the whole must be accepted by repentant faith.

The Existence & Creation of Angels

In which we continue our look at Angelology, concluding last week’s study on the existence of angels and also discussing the creation of angels.

Prayers of Discipleship  (Lk 9.28)

Our survey of the Lord’s teaching on prayer brings us to the Transfiguration. Luke tells us Jesus prayed as he was transfigured. The purpose of this prayer was a matter of training for the disciples, correcting their misapprehension of his new teaching concerning his death, burial, and resurrection. Our prayers are likewise a means of discipleship, as praying according to the Scriptures we are drawn closer to heaven and heaven is drawn closer to us.

One of our members was promoted to heaven this week. Our musicians played her favourite hymn for the offertory this week: Great is Thy Faithfulness. She really knows the truth of that now!

Here are the summaries of our messages from our church website. Audio and pdfs are available there.

the Just shall live by Faith (Rm 1.17c)

Some passages are known for what they mean … and some for what they mean and also for what they meant at significant points in history. Perhaps no passage is more significant in this regard than our text for today. Martin Luther was converted to Christ when he finally grasped the meaning of ‘as it is written, the just shall live by faith’. The meaning of this passage is an overarching theme of the Bible. It is interesting that Luther’s conversion experience happened after the Reformation ‘began’, that is, it wasn’t until two years after the posting of the 95 Theses that Luther found relief for his soul when he discovered that ‘the righteousness of God’ was righteousness from God, righteousness for living, the moment in which he himself was ‘born again’.

The Existence of Angels

In which we begin a survey of biblical evidence concerning the reality, power, place and presence of angels throughout the Scriptures.

Jesus Withdrew to Pray (Mt 14.23, Mk 6.46)

Our subject in this message is private prayer, an area where we all feel we fall down, I think. In this message, three principles are suggested to improve our private prayers: take much time for prayer, make specific time for prayer, and plan for your time of prayer. Thoughtfulness will increase fruitfulness in prayer.

I draw on a number of E. M. Bounds ideas in Power through Prayer for this message.

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