Human science in all its pride and arrogance sure lacks any form of intelligence.
First we have evolution which has always taught that the universe started from some gaseous cloud out in space. Hmmm, I wonder where space came from - oops, I digress, let me not go there for now. Well the other night, I'm watching the Discovery Channel and they have some inane program on about how we got here. Their newest theory, which by the way, they are trying to pawn off as fact, says that the Earth was here but just a big ball of gas with no atmosphere. Now here's the real kicker. They now say, the planet Thea came by and crashed into Earth and from the ensuing explosion, it created an atmosphere around the Earth which was able to sustain life. Are you kidding me!!! Since when does an explosion and total destruction create something?? If two planets collided all you'd have left would be little pieces of the two bigger planets. It just gets deeper and deeper with these people.
Now, as you know, for about the past 20 years or so we've been hearing all about global warming. How man, with his aerosol cans and big SUV's is creating greenhouse gases that are heating the Earth and melting the ice caps.
Well yesterday, I'm perusing the Drudge Report and I come across a story headlined: Temperature Monitors Report Widescale Global Cooling.
Of course I just had to read this. The story reports that a twelve-month long drop in world temperatures has wiped out a century of warming. The story goes on to report that China has had its coldest winter in 100 years, Baghdad has seen its first snow in all of recorded history and Wisconsin has had its greatest snow cover in 50 years.
Then there's another article on that site stating, because solar activity is diminishing, researchers are predicting another ice age. When I was a child all we ever heard about is the coming ice age. Then for the past 20 years everyone's been all worried about global warming, now it seems we're going back to the ice age theory.
It is unbelievable, how ignorant man really is. He runs around his little planet acting like he knows everything but if you watch carefully, you'll notice that his theories change back and forth all the time because he really knows nothing. Its so sad that our children are being indoctrinated with these lies in government schools.
And God just sits on His throne and laughs at man's foolishness - "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men..." "But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, and the base things of the world and the despised, God has chosen the things that are not, that He might nullify the things that are, that no man should boast before God." 1Cor. 1:25, 27-29
This is why Jesus said, "Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
To God be the glory!!
Rob
Being once dead in sin, now raised by God's mere mercy, to newness of life.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Sunday, February 24, 2008
Doctrines of Grace - Week 2 - Total Depravity
The doctrine of Total Depravity is the first acronym in the acrostic TULIP. When we speak of man's depravity, we're talking about man's natural condition apart from any grace given by God. In other words, Depravity speaks of the moral corruption or evil within the human heart or soul. Total refers to the extent of such corruption within fallen man.
The 1689 London Baptist Confession defines Total Depravity this way: " Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has completely lost all ability of will to perform any of the spiritual good which accompanies salvation. As a natural man, he is altogether averse to spiritual good, and dead in sin. He is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself for conversion."
Is Total Depravity taught anywhere in the Word of God? Yes, it is found in many passages, here are just a few:
- "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it." Jer. 17:9
- "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." Psalm 51:5
- "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
- "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. " Romans 3:10-12
See, what we need to realize is that we are all sinners and there is absolutely nothing good in us that can please God. When man was first created, he was created in the image of God and free from sin. But he transgressed (broke) God's law and fell from his original holiness and righteousness. Because of that, all of his posterity inherits a sinful nature, corrupt and wholly opposed to God. This is the doctrine of Original Sin.
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." Romans 5:12
"Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation..." Romans 5:18
Not only do these verses speak of original sin but they also speak of the Consequences of sin. From here we can see the chronology of the malady of sin in the human heart.
1) The fall in the Garden of Eden.
2) The corruption of Adam and his posterity.
3) Sin is committed by all human beings due to their sin nature.
"Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Eph 2:3
Therefore, we are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners! Just stop and ponder that sentence for a minute.
II) Settling Some Confusing Issues
First, you need to understand that Total Depravity does not mean Utter Depravity. In other words, Total Depravity does not mean that human beings are as bad as they could be, which would be Utter Depravity. There are 3 reasons for this:
1) A person's temperament affects his/her actions.
2) There remains in fallen man a vestige of the "image of God," though it is marred by the fall.
3) The restraining hand of God in providence.
Secondly, Total Depravity does not mean that fallen human beings are not capable of acts of kindness, love, mercy, honor, loyalty, integrity, etc. The problem is that no matter how good man is he always falls short of God's standard - perfect holiness and man's good deeds are like filthy rags to God.
"For all of us become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment..." Isa 64:6
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
The whole person has been infected and corrupted by the power of sin. This is why Jesus said:
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:44
This is why we need to think about what we say when we say things like, "I made Jesus my Savior today." or "I chose Christ today." etc. My friend you did nothing. Its all about Jesus and what He's done for us. As spiritually dead people, we can do nothing apart from Christ.
Below is a pretty good 5 minute video clip of Mark Driscoll talking about man's sinfulness and Jesus' salvation. Notice as you're watching, he talks about, "you do what you are." when referring to sin. And he's right, it is our very nature to sin. Until next time God bless. Rob
The 1689 London Baptist Confession defines Total Depravity this way: " Man, by his fall into a state of sin, has completely lost all ability of will to perform any of the spiritual good which accompanies salvation. As a natural man, he is altogether averse to spiritual good, and dead in sin. He is not able by his own strength to convert himself, or to prepare himself for conversion."
Is Total Depravity taught anywhere in the Word of God? Yes, it is found in many passages, here are just a few:
- "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it." Jer. 17:9
- "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother conceived me." Psalm 51:5
- "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
- "There is none righteous, no, not one; there is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one. " Romans 3:10-12
See, what we need to realize is that we are all sinners and there is absolutely nothing good in us that can please God. When man was first created, he was created in the image of God and free from sin. But he transgressed (broke) God's law and fell from his original holiness and righteousness. Because of that, all of his posterity inherits a sinful nature, corrupt and wholly opposed to God. This is the doctrine of Original Sin.
"Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." Romans 5:12
"Therefore, as through one man's offense judgment came to all men resulting in condemnation..." Romans 5:18
Not only do these verses speak of original sin but they also speak of the Consequences of sin. From here we can see the chronology of the malady of sin in the human heart.
1) The fall in the Garden of Eden.
2) The corruption of Adam and his posterity.
3) Sin is committed by all human beings due to their sin nature.
"Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest." Eph 2:3
Therefore, we are not sinners because we sin, we sin because we are sinners! Just stop and ponder that sentence for a minute.
II) Settling Some Confusing Issues
First, you need to understand that Total Depravity does not mean Utter Depravity. In other words, Total Depravity does not mean that human beings are as bad as they could be, which would be Utter Depravity. There are 3 reasons for this:
1) A person's temperament affects his/her actions.
2) There remains in fallen man a vestige of the "image of God," though it is marred by the fall.
3) The restraining hand of God in providence.
Secondly, Total Depravity does not mean that fallen human beings are not capable of acts of kindness, love, mercy, honor, loyalty, integrity, etc. The problem is that no matter how good man is he always falls short of God's standard - perfect holiness and man's good deeds are like filthy rags to God.
"For all of us become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment..." Isa 64:6
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." Romans 3:23
The whole person has been infected and corrupted by the power of sin. This is why Jesus said:
"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day." John 6:44
This is why we need to think about what we say when we say things like, "I made Jesus my Savior today." or "I chose Christ today." etc. My friend you did nothing. Its all about Jesus and what He's done for us. As spiritually dead people, we can do nothing apart from Christ.
Below is a pretty good 5 minute video clip of Mark Driscoll talking about man's sinfulness and Jesus' salvation. Notice as you're watching, he talks about, "you do what you are." when referring to sin. And he's right, it is our very nature to sin. Until next time God bless. Rob
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Pummeling of McCain Begins
Well, well, well, and it begins for John McCain just as I said it would. He has spent his Republican political career, cozying up to liberals, trying to make nice, while abandoning his party's conservative base and principles. And now its time to pay the piper. Let the blood bath begin.
I've analyzed the liberal attack and have noticed that they're using a 2 pronged approach to taking McCain out. First it begins with Obama, who will remain above the fray and continuously throw jabs at McCain by rebuffing the things he says in the present during the campaign. For example, whenever McCain picks on some Obama proposed policies, Obama's just going to turn around and say, 'oh yea John, well didn't you vote with us on this in the Senate???' And McCain will be effectively neutralized and dead in his tracks.
Then the left wing media and the socialist elite in Hollywood will take care of the body blows by digging up the dirt from McCains past, whether or not it has any relevance to anything. For example did you hear the big news out today?? The NY Times has kicked things off by digging up an oldy but a goody from 2000, charging McCain with giving special treatment to a female lobbyist! Uh Oh John!!!!! Looks like you're liberal buddies don't want to play nice anymore. And you expected something different from these people??
See this just proves the point I made in my earlier post: We have allowed the media (the left wing, communist media) to pick our candidate. This story is very old, and really quite meaningless, yet notice how they did not reveal it to the public conscience before the New Hampshire primaries. If they had, do you think John McCain would be our front runner today?? NOT!!
So what is McCain's problem? Why did the NY Times suddenly decide now was the time to float this story? The answer my friend is because McCain has realized that without the Republican conservative base, he has no hope of winning the election against Obama. And there are a lot of conservatives out there who will not vote for McCain because of how he treated them throughout his tenure as Senator. Many people I've spoken to say they will vote for an independent before they'll vote for McCain. So what's he been doing the past few weeks? He's been courting the very conservatives he's rejected for the past 8 years. Guarenteed, that's what's got the liberals all riled up. The Times, and mark my words, other liberal socialist organizations in this country will soon follow suit, and they're all going to come out with negative stories about McCain. And trust me on this one, its not going to matter whether or not the stories are true or false.
Yes folks, mark my words the pummeling of McCain has only just begun. Over the next few months the heat is really going to be turned up.
God bless
Rob
I've analyzed the liberal attack and have noticed that they're using a 2 pronged approach to taking McCain out. First it begins with Obama, who will remain above the fray and continuously throw jabs at McCain by rebuffing the things he says in the present during the campaign. For example, whenever McCain picks on some Obama proposed policies, Obama's just going to turn around and say, 'oh yea John, well didn't you vote with us on this in the Senate???' And McCain will be effectively neutralized and dead in his tracks.
Then the left wing media and the socialist elite in Hollywood will take care of the body blows by digging up the dirt from McCains past, whether or not it has any relevance to anything. For example did you hear the big news out today?? The NY Times has kicked things off by digging up an oldy but a goody from 2000, charging McCain with giving special treatment to a female lobbyist! Uh Oh John!!!!! Looks like you're liberal buddies don't want to play nice anymore. And you expected something different from these people??
See this just proves the point I made in my earlier post: We have allowed the media (the left wing, communist media) to pick our candidate. This story is very old, and really quite meaningless, yet notice how they did not reveal it to the public conscience before the New Hampshire primaries. If they had, do you think John McCain would be our front runner today?? NOT!!
So what is McCain's problem? Why did the NY Times suddenly decide now was the time to float this story? The answer my friend is because McCain has realized that without the Republican conservative base, he has no hope of winning the election against Obama. And there are a lot of conservatives out there who will not vote for McCain because of how he treated them throughout his tenure as Senator. Many people I've spoken to say they will vote for an independent before they'll vote for McCain. So what's he been doing the past few weeks? He's been courting the very conservatives he's rejected for the past 8 years. Guarenteed, that's what's got the liberals all riled up. The Times, and mark my words, other liberal socialist organizations in this country will soon follow suit, and they're all going to come out with negative stories about McCain. And trust me on this one, its not going to matter whether or not the stories are true or false.
Yes folks, mark my words the pummeling of McCain has only just begun. Over the next few months the heat is really going to be turned up.
God bless
Rob
Friday, February 15, 2008
The Doctrines of Grace - Introduction Continued
Ok, in my last post I left off inviting folks to join our study of the Doctrines of Grace at Turning Point Community Church in Palm Coast, Florida. I also spent time giving credit where credit was due and telling folks how they can get in touch with me if they decide they'd like a copy of our materials.
Also, I'd like to reiterate what I said yesterday and that is, what I'm writing here is in no way meant to be an in depth study of these doctrines. The notes presented here are merely an overview of what Pastor David taught us the night before. Primarily for anyone who may have missed class and would like to get a basic understanding of what we studied so they can be prepared for next weeks class.
That being said, tonight I'd like to jump right into what we studied Wednesday night.
First we started off with a brief definition: What are the Doctrines of Grace?
"These doctrines are those truths, set forth in Scripture, which express the fact that the salvation of sinners is an act of God alone."
We also learned that the Doctrines of Grace, also known as Calvinism contain 5 basic tenets known best by the acrostic TULIP.
T - Total Depravity
U - Unconditional Election
L - Limited Atonement
I - Irresistible Grace
P - Perseverance of the Saints
Next we looked at "Why are the Doctrines of Grace" important? And Pastor David said, the number one reason is because they are Biblical!!
Another reason and I can attest to this one first hand, is the fact that "they kill all forms of pride and arrogance in the heart of man towards meriting God's favor."
-This is so true. When I first learned these doctrines at Riverbend, I felt like I had been saved all over again. There is an amazing sense of deep love from the Father to his children. When you come to realize that you stand before God completely bankrupt and that all you have to offer Him is your wretched, sinful self it really opens your eyes to how deep and powerful the love, grace and mercy of God really is.
My prayer for everyone is that God would open all our hearts and minds to the truth of His word. I sincerely believe that these Doctrines of Grace are what the Apostle Paul meant when he spoke about the meat of the Word.
Pastor David then went on to explain the Dangers of teaching these doctrines. How all doctrines are dangerous if they are misrepresented. He talked about how we have to have a fine balance between two theological truths: God's Sovereignty and man's responsibility. We also learned that misunderstanding these doctrines can lead to pride and elitism, but humility and love when properly understood.
Also, Pastor David said, the teaching of these doctrines in the context of present-day theological illiteracy may cause division within the local church. Why? Below are a few reasons:
1) These doctrines go against the Carnal Mind. 1Cor 2:14 - "The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
2) These doctrines Undermine human pride and superiority. 1Cor 1:27-31 - "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, 'let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"
- Do you notice in this passage who it is that does the choosing?
3) These doctrines rob man of his sense of Being in Control. Isa. 46:9-10 - "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'"
And the Bible also declares, Prov 16:9 - "A man's heart plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps."
Interesting. Who's counsel? Who's purpose? Who directs man's steps? If you answered God you are correct. - So who's in Control? Leaves little room for man and his pride and thinking that he's in control of his life.
4) These doctrines destroy our concept of God's Fairness. Rom 9:14-16 - "What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."
You know, today we think that God is unfair when he cast's unrepentant people into hell. But one needs to think about it for a minute. If 6 people die and 3 go to Heaven and 3 go to hell, which ones got what they did not deserve?
Answer: the 3 that went to Heaven. - They didn't get there because they were good enough, or smart enough. They got there by the grace and mercy of God alone. Because He chose to save them out of the pit of their iniquity.
Here's an observation made by both Pastor David and Pastor Roy: "Angry reaction to these doctrines is much more prevalent among 'church people' than those who have very little or no previous knowledge of Biblical doctrine."
So that was about it for our introduction. Pastor David then had a Q&A time and we ended with prayer.
Your reading assignment for this week is to read the first 7 chapters of the Journey in Grace book. Don't worry, each chapter is very short. Most are only 3-4 pages.
This weeks Memory Verse: 1Pet 2:9 - "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Until next time, may God bless you and your family richly. : )
Rob
Also, I'd like to reiterate what I said yesterday and that is, what I'm writing here is in no way meant to be an in depth study of these doctrines. The notes presented here are merely an overview of what Pastor David taught us the night before. Primarily for anyone who may have missed class and would like to get a basic understanding of what we studied so they can be prepared for next weeks class.
That being said, tonight I'd like to jump right into what we studied Wednesday night.
First we started off with a brief definition: What are the Doctrines of Grace?
"These doctrines are those truths, set forth in Scripture, which express the fact that the salvation of sinners is an act of God alone."
We also learned that the Doctrines of Grace, also known as Calvinism contain 5 basic tenets known best by the acrostic TULIP.
T - Total Depravity
U - Unconditional Election
L - Limited Atonement
I - Irresistible Grace
P - Perseverance of the Saints
Next we looked at "Why are the Doctrines of Grace" important? And Pastor David said, the number one reason is because they are Biblical!!
Another reason and I can attest to this one first hand, is the fact that "they kill all forms of pride and arrogance in the heart of man towards meriting God's favor."
-This is so true. When I first learned these doctrines at Riverbend, I felt like I had been saved all over again. There is an amazing sense of deep love from the Father to his children. When you come to realize that you stand before God completely bankrupt and that all you have to offer Him is your wretched, sinful self it really opens your eyes to how deep and powerful the love, grace and mercy of God really is.
My prayer for everyone is that God would open all our hearts and minds to the truth of His word. I sincerely believe that these Doctrines of Grace are what the Apostle Paul meant when he spoke about the meat of the Word.
Pastor David then went on to explain the Dangers of teaching these doctrines. How all doctrines are dangerous if they are misrepresented. He talked about how we have to have a fine balance between two theological truths: God's Sovereignty and man's responsibility. We also learned that misunderstanding these doctrines can lead to pride and elitism, but humility and love when properly understood.
Also, Pastor David said, the teaching of these doctrines in the context of present-day theological illiteracy may cause division within the local church. Why? Below are a few reasons:
1) These doctrines go against the Carnal Mind. 1Cor 2:14 - "The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
2) These doctrines Undermine human pride and superiority. 1Cor 1:27-31 - "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, whom God made our wisdom and our righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Therefore, as it is written, 'let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.'"
- Do you notice in this passage who it is that does the choosing?
3) These doctrines rob man of his sense of Being in Control. Isa. 46:9-10 - "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'"
And the Bible also declares, Prov 16:9 - "A man's heart plans his ways, but the Lord directs his steps."
Interesting. Who's counsel? Who's purpose? Who directs man's steps? If you answered God you are correct. - So who's in Control? Leaves little room for man and his pride and thinking that he's in control of his life.
4) These doctrines destroy our concept of God's Fairness. Rom 9:14-16 - "What shall we say then? Is there injustice on God's part? By no means!! For He says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy."
You know, today we think that God is unfair when he cast's unrepentant people into hell. But one needs to think about it for a minute. If 6 people die and 3 go to Heaven and 3 go to hell, which ones got what they did not deserve?
Answer: the 3 that went to Heaven. - They didn't get there because they were good enough, or smart enough. They got there by the grace and mercy of God alone. Because He chose to save them out of the pit of their iniquity.
Here's an observation made by both Pastor David and Pastor Roy: "Angry reaction to these doctrines is much more prevalent among 'church people' than those who have very little or no previous knowledge of Biblical doctrine."
So that was about it for our introduction. Pastor David then had a Q&A time and we ended with prayer.
Your reading assignment for this week is to read the first 7 chapters of the Journey in Grace book. Don't worry, each chapter is very short. Most are only 3-4 pages.
This weeks Memory Verse: 1Pet 2:9 - "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."
Until next time, may God bless you and your family richly. : )
Rob
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Theology Series - Doctrines of Grace - Introduction
Our church, Turning Point Community Church, in Palm Coast, Florida just started its first doctrinal theology series last night for all members. Also, if you are not a member of Turning Point but live in the Palm Coast area and would like to learn more about these doctrines, you too are certainly welcome and encouraged to attend. Anyone who would like to learn more about these deeper truths of God's word is certainly welcome.
This will be a 14 week doctrinal study looking at these controversial doctrines called the Doctrines of Grace or Calvinism. We are using notes obtained (with permission), from Riverbend Community Church's Doctrines of Grace class in Ormond Beach, Florida. This course has been written and taught by Dr. Roy Hargrave for many years and has been tweaked and revised many times in order to provide the serious Bible student with some of the most accurate notes available on the topic today.
So what I've determined to do here is to share with everyone a synopsis of each week's lesson. This will in no way be an exhaustive writ on each of the 5 points of Calvinism, as the volumes it would consume would be beyond anything I would be able to undertake here. Besides, there are many websites available that deal with this subject in depth and I will allude to a few of them as we go along in the weeks ahead.
If you're not from this area but would like to follow along with our text book and workbook, we are using the book, A Journey in Grace by Richard P. Belcher. Its a great little 150 page novel about a young preacher boy in seminary who is asked by a pulpit committee, "young man, are you a Calvinist?" He does not know what a Calvinist is and so is launched on a doctrinal persuit to find out what a Calvinist is. If you're interested in obtaining a copy of our materials, just shoot me an email at rdmoritz1@gmail.com and we'll make arrangements to get them into your hands.
Before we begin I just want to agree with the statement below that Dr. Hargrave writes at the beginning of his notes. This statement will also apply to what I write here. He states:
"I am convinced that the Bible proclaims forthrightly and clearly the vital doctrines of salvation. It is not my desire to convince you by the force of my commitment or passion for these truths. On the contrary, I believe it to be a dangerous proposition to believe what any man teaches (no matter how persuasive or passionate he may be) without a careful examination of the one revelation which matters - the Bible. If you are not convinced by the Scripture that the subject matter and contents of this course are true, then you must reject it as false teaching and eschew those who would teach it. But, if you are convinced that these doctrines are set forth in the Scripture, you should gladly acquiesce to God's Word. Those who would abandon that which they know to be true in the Word of God do so at their own eternal peril. May the Lord open our eyes to see the truth that sets a man free!" Dr. Roy Hargrave.
Because this post has been a "longer than I thought" introduction, I'll end here tonight and pick up with what we learned in our first class tomorrow. Until then...
God bless
Rob
This will be a 14 week doctrinal study looking at these controversial doctrines called the Doctrines of Grace or Calvinism. We are using notes obtained (with permission), from Riverbend Community Church's Doctrines of Grace class in Ormond Beach, Florida. This course has been written and taught by Dr. Roy Hargrave for many years and has been tweaked and revised many times in order to provide the serious Bible student with some of the most accurate notes available on the topic today.
So what I've determined to do here is to share with everyone a synopsis of each week's lesson. This will in no way be an exhaustive writ on each of the 5 points of Calvinism, as the volumes it would consume would be beyond anything I would be able to undertake here. Besides, there are many websites available that deal with this subject in depth and I will allude to a few of them as we go along in the weeks ahead.
If you're not from this area but would like to follow along with our text book and workbook, we are using the book, A Journey in Grace by Richard P. Belcher. Its a great little 150 page novel about a young preacher boy in seminary who is asked by a pulpit committee, "young man, are you a Calvinist?" He does not know what a Calvinist is and so is launched on a doctrinal persuit to find out what a Calvinist is. If you're interested in obtaining a copy of our materials, just shoot me an email at rdmoritz1@gmail.com and we'll make arrangements to get them into your hands.
Before we begin I just want to agree with the statement below that Dr. Hargrave writes at the beginning of his notes. This statement will also apply to what I write here. He states:
"I am convinced that the Bible proclaims forthrightly and clearly the vital doctrines of salvation. It is not my desire to convince you by the force of my commitment or passion for these truths. On the contrary, I believe it to be a dangerous proposition to believe what any man teaches (no matter how persuasive or passionate he may be) without a careful examination of the one revelation which matters - the Bible. If you are not convinced by the Scripture that the subject matter and contents of this course are true, then you must reject it as false teaching and eschew those who would teach it. But, if you are convinced that these doctrines are set forth in the Scripture, you should gladly acquiesce to God's Word. Those who would abandon that which they know to be true in the Word of God do so at their own eternal peril. May the Lord open our eyes to see the truth that sets a man free!" Dr. Roy Hargrave.
Because this post has been a "longer than I thought" introduction, I'll end here tonight and pick up with what we learned in our first class tomorrow. Until then...
God bless
Rob
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Believing is Seeing
I just wanted to share with you something from Pastor David's sermon this morning that really struck me. Again this week we were back in the Gospel of John 8:48-59.
Pastor David again talked specifically about verse 51 where Jesus says, "Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
Of course, as we've been learning, that is really an amazing statement. Yes, our bodies will die but for those of us who are saved it will be like stepping gently into the next life. No matter how violent are physical death is, our spiritual selves will be transported immediately into the presence of the Lord.
But this was not the thing that really got me today. Instead it was something Pastor David said almost as an aside that really struck me today. It was when he said, "...you've probably heard the saying, 'seeing is believing?' Well actually it should be the other way around. It should be 'believing is seeing.'"
Wow! I never thought about that before but when he said that I thought, how true for the Christian. You know how sometimes your eyes can deceive you? You think you see something one way and it turns out to be something totally different.
Its for this very reason that eye witnesses at a crime scene or accident can't always be used as solid evidence in a court of law. If you think about it, if you have 4 people standing on a street corner and they all witness the same accident, you'll get 4 different accounts. That's probably why when people say they saw a UFO or a ghost, most of the time its really easy to explain it away as some other natural or man made phenomina.
But how true for the Christian that believing is seeing. As Scripture says, before we are born again, we are dead in our tresspasses and sins. Eph. 2:1 This death means we are completely blind to spiritual things and cannot see until God regenerates our hearts and removes the scales from our eyes.
No verse in Scripture speaks to this more clearly than 1Cor 2:14 which says:
"The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
Exactly! Why can an unspiritual person not see? Because he does not believe. And the only way he will ever believe is if he is first drawn to Christ by the Father.
"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
"...This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." John 6:65
That's why when any unsaved person reads the Bible, yes they are able to understand the words and grasp the meaning of the text. But they will never be able to see the spiritual meaning behind the text. NEVER - unless God first opens their eyes through salvation.
I'll never forget when God removed the scales from my eyes. I had just recently been saved and I opended up a Bible and started reading a passage I had read many times before and all of a sudden I almost literally felt the blindfold drop off my eyes. All of a sudden I was seeing things in the words I had never seen before. I wept for a long time that night in utter amazement at what I was seeing now that I believed.
Folks, when you read the Bible is it really just words on a page? Does you heart not feel an emotional stirring of joy and a sense of conviction when you look at God's word? If your reading of Scripture is dead as a door nail, let me encouage you right now to come to the Lord in prayer, repent of your sins and ask Him to reveal Himself to you in a new way. If you do, believe me, the next time you seek Him out in His word, you too will be utterly amazed and you'll come to realize that Believing really is Seeing.
May God bless you richly.
Rob
Pastor David again talked specifically about verse 51 where Jesus says, "Truly, truly I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death."
Of course, as we've been learning, that is really an amazing statement. Yes, our bodies will die but for those of us who are saved it will be like stepping gently into the next life. No matter how violent are physical death is, our spiritual selves will be transported immediately into the presence of the Lord.
But this was not the thing that really got me today. Instead it was something Pastor David said almost as an aside that really struck me today. It was when he said, "...you've probably heard the saying, 'seeing is believing?' Well actually it should be the other way around. It should be 'believing is seeing.'"
Wow! I never thought about that before but when he said that I thought, how true for the Christian. You know how sometimes your eyes can deceive you? You think you see something one way and it turns out to be something totally different.
Its for this very reason that eye witnesses at a crime scene or accident can't always be used as solid evidence in a court of law. If you think about it, if you have 4 people standing on a street corner and they all witness the same accident, you'll get 4 different accounts. That's probably why when people say they saw a UFO or a ghost, most of the time its really easy to explain it away as some other natural or man made phenomina.
But how true for the Christian that believing is seeing. As Scripture says, before we are born again, we are dead in our tresspasses and sins. Eph. 2:1 This death means we are completely blind to spiritual things and cannot see until God regenerates our hearts and removes the scales from our eyes.
No verse in Scripture speaks to this more clearly than 1Cor 2:14 which says:
"The natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them because they are spiritually discerned."
Exactly! Why can an unspiritual person not see? Because he does not believe. And the only way he will ever believe is if he is first drawn to Christ by the Father.
"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
"...This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father." John 6:65
That's why when any unsaved person reads the Bible, yes they are able to understand the words and grasp the meaning of the text. But they will never be able to see the spiritual meaning behind the text. NEVER - unless God first opens their eyes through salvation.
I'll never forget when God removed the scales from my eyes. I had just recently been saved and I opended up a Bible and started reading a passage I had read many times before and all of a sudden I almost literally felt the blindfold drop off my eyes. All of a sudden I was seeing things in the words I had never seen before. I wept for a long time that night in utter amazement at what I was seeing now that I believed.
Folks, when you read the Bible is it really just words on a page? Does you heart not feel an emotional stirring of joy and a sense of conviction when you look at God's word? If your reading of Scripture is dead as a door nail, let me encouage you right now to come to the Lord in prayer, repent of your sins and ask Him to reveal Himself to you in a new way. If you do, believe me, the next time you seek Him out in His word, you too will be utterly amazed and you'll come to realize that Believing really is Seeing.
May God bless you richly.
Rob
Friday, February 8, 2008
The McCain Debacle
After witnessing this McCain fiasco I just couldn't stand it anymore and decided it was time for me to weigh in.
I have been a Republican all my life and have always voted my conservative values. But this primary has just completely boggled my mind. It is absolutely amazing to me how stupid the masses of the Republican party really are.
I have to hand it to the Dems and the media, they played their McCain cards perfectly. I just can't believe that the only ones who saw this debacle coming were the voices of talk radio and they were completely ignored by their base.
Why do you think the Liberals wanted McCain to win? Didn't anyone stop to think what the reason might be that the media kept gloating over McCain and beating up Rommney & Huckabee??? I just can't believe no one, except the talk radio folks, had any clue about what was happening.
One thing we must always keep in mind as conservatives, whenever we have an issue on the table or a man or woman running for office and the Communist News Network (CNN) tends to run stories in support of them, something is wrong. When the left wing media in this country is touting our guy, we need to take a closer look at why.
So why did the Libs want McCain?? Two reasons:
1) He'll be very easy to beat, even for Hillary. With all McCain's flip flopping on issues, his constant abandoning Republicans in Congress to work with the Left, and his bashing of the Conservative base, half of the Republican party won't even support him. This will give the liberal media plenty of ammunition to use against him for the next 9 months as they slowly but surely destroy his reputation. Therefore, it won't really matter who the Libs put up in the race, their man or woman will win.
2) Because even should McCain pull off a miracle and win the election, it will be just like putting a Liberal in office anyway. He bashes conservative ideals, he goes out of his way to work with Libs, he votes against his own party at almost every turn etc. See the libs know that putting McCain in office will be like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. He'll inevitably do what the Dems want him to do anyway. So they've effectively covered all their bases.
It is amazing how easy it was for the left wing media to pull the wool over the eyes of Republican voters. Rush seems to think the American people are smart. I tend to disagree, well, maybe 20 years ago, but after what I've just witnessed I have to agree with the left wingers, people are easily led astray. No one thinks for themselves any more. No one will research the issues or politicians to find out what they really stand for. We all just sit idly by and wait for the media to spoon feed us what we should believe. It really is a sad state of affairs today.
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hanity and others have been warning about McCain for months now and it seems no one has listened. Mark my words, when this election is over, no matter which of the 3 liberals is in office, people are going to be walking around all bleary eyed saying, "Rush was right, Rush was right."
God bless
Rob
I have been a Republican all my life and have always voted my conservative values. But this primary has just completely boggled my mind. It is absolutely amazing to me how stupid the masses of the Republican party really are.
I have to hand it to the Dems and the media, they played their McCain cards perfectly. I just can't believe that the only ones who saw this debacle coming were the voices of talk radio and they were completely ignored by their base.
Why do you think the Liberals wanted McCain to win? Didn't anyone stop to think what the reason might be that the media kept gloating over McCain and beating up Rommney & Huckabee??? I just can't believe no one, except the talk radio folks, had any clue about what was happening.
One thing we must always keep in mind as conservatives, whenever we have an issue on the table or a man or woman running for office and the Communist News Network (CNN) tends to run stories in support of them, something is wrong. When the left wing media in this country is touting our guy, we need to take a closer look at why.
So why did the Libs want McCain?? Two reasons:
1) He'll be very easy to beat, even for Hillary. With all McCain's flip flopping on issues, his constant abandoning Republicans in Congress to work with the Left, and his bashing of the Conservative base, half of the Republican party won't even support him. This will give the liberal media plenty of ammunition to use against him for the next 9 months as they slowly but surely destroy his reputation. Therefore, it won't really matter who the Libs put up in the race, their man or woman will win.
2) Because even should McCain pull off a miracle and win the election, it will be just like putting a Liberal in office anyway. He bashes conservative ideals, he goes out of his way to work with Libs, he votes against his own party at almost every turn etc. See the libs know that putting McCain in office will be like putting the fox in charge of the hen house. He'll inevitably do what the Dems want him to do anyway. So they've effectively covered all their bases.
It is amazing how easy it was for the left wing media to pull the wool over the eyes of Republican voters. Rush seems to think the American people are smart. I tend to disagree, well, maybe 20 years ago, but after what I've just witnessed I have to agree with the left wingers, people are easily led astray. No one thinks for themselves any more. No one will research the issues or politicians to find out what they really stand for. We all just sit idly by and wait for the media to spoon feed us what we should believe. It really is a sad state of affairs today.
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hanity and others have been warning about McCain for months now and it seems no one has listened. Mark my words, when this election is over, no matter which of the 3 liberals is in office, people are going to be walking around all bleary eyed saying, "Rush was right, Rush was right."
God bless
Rob
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