Our next study: Colossians? Weigh in!

I'm thinking Colossians would be a great book to do next. It deals with early heresies and we live in an age of countless heresies and challenges to orthodox faith.

What do you think?

Full Assurance of Faith

We learned that God does not want us to walk around in anxious doubt. Quite apart from the question, "Can I lose my salvation?" which I personally would answer in the negative, is the doctrine that God wants me to be assured in my faith. We explored many verses that showed this is God's desire and His design. Some are listed below:

Eph. 1:4-7; 1:13-14; 4:30
John 10:28-30
Heb. 10:21-23
I Jn. 2:1-2, 19
John 5:24

Our salvation is in God's hands and He is able to make us stand. Yet we are encouraged to persevere and continue in our faith. There is no contradiction here, but rather view of the truth from two perspectives, ours and God's.

Jesus is better than Moses

As much as the builder of the house is due more glory than the house! The law of Moses is surpassed by the New Covenant of grace. I was reading in Timothy this morning that the law is good if it's used lawfully. The law is meant for all sorts of law breakers to show them how wicked they are. The law is our tutor to Christ, it is not our modus operandi once we are Christians. That's what makes the New Covenant new and the Old Covenant superceded. We now live by a law of love, of the Spirit and not of the letter. Much better, huh?

Jesus is both Lord and Messiah

"But of the Son He says, 'Thy throne, O God is forever and ever, and Your righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom." Hebrews 1:8

Hebrews 1 leaves no doubt that Jesus is the Eternal God and Creator of all things. There is nothing ambiguous here. I am curious to know what a Jehovah Witness might say in regard to these verses. They are so clear in placing Jesus above the angels and on the very throne of God.

The author of Hebrews draws from the Old Testament to show that Jesus is not just a man, a prophet, or a savior; though he is clearly all of these things as well.

Breaking the Law with Jesus

We had a nice turnout and a good discussion in Week 1 for Hebrews: "Breaking the Law with Jesus." The author, Origen says, is only known to God. Tradition said Paul, but the book seems to be just not his style. Hebrews is perhaps the best written book in the NT regarding style and argument.

Deep and Wide!

Here's the reference study list I've constructed for the Sunday Group. Subject to further revision. Dig deep. Get wide. Know it and spread it.

http://www.amazon.com/Bible-Study-Tools/lm/R1KX8YPI3TCJQE/ref=cm_srch_res_rpli_alt_3

"I'm probably 20 percent atheist and 80 percent agnostic," Pitt said. "I don't think anyone really knows. You'll either find out or not when you get there, until then there's no point thinking about it."

--Brad Pitt settles the issue of God's existence once and for all.

Well, I guess there's not much point in continuing the blog.

Name for new class????

Would you buy a used car from THIS man?

We're looking for a name for our Sunday morning group that will focus on Truth/Doctrine/Worldview/Theology/Expository Bible Teaching/The Story of What God is doing in history.

Troy mentioned "Truth Seekers," which I kind of like. Please flood the blog with suggestions. The person who gives us the name we use will receive an as yet unspecified, chocolatey prize.

Give your suggestions in the comments section below. There is no limit to the number or frequency of suggestions you may make. However, do not mess up my poor blog.

Thanks!

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!

--Isaiah 5:20

I was telling the GCLI guys this morning about how the New York Times likes to lump all fundamentalists into one big pie. Chris metioned a jiggly blonde on MTV who let a lot of skin pop through her "Jesus" tee shirt. Muslims are outraged at this kind of thing and mistakenly think this has to do with corruption of Christians in America. They see us all as "Christians." The New York Times Book Review likes to review books that threaten the American way of life as if all fundamentalists: Jews/Christians/Muslims will hold hands and bring down Reality TV, Internet porn, and Dunkin Donuts in a sudden raging pogrom born of long conspiratorial plotting.

There are of course several problems with this way of thinking. It is true that both Christian and Muslim fundamentalists are often horrified by MTV. But what the New York intelligentsia seem not to realize (and I emphasize "seem," because I wonder if they really believe it) is that all fundamentalists are not the same. I think it was Ravi Zacharias who said, "People seem to think that all religions are the same and only differ in the superficial, but the truth is religions are very different and are only the same in superficial ways." (This may not be the exact quote). Christians actually have quite different goals for humanity than Muslims and radically different ways of accomplishing them. There is no unity possible here. Followers of Jesus are not comfortable forcing conversions or mandating behavior without the help of the Holy Spirit. You can follow the rules all you want in Christianity, but if you are not born from above it only makes you proud and hellbound.

Another thought occurred to me afterwards: We need to not be afraid of calling what is evil, evil. Just because we don't want to be associated with Islamic jihadists is no reason to shy away from saying women in this society need to cover up and show some modesty. I'm not calling for burcas, only advocationg I Tim. 2:9: "I want women to dress with modesty, decently.." What are the evils in our society that are distracting people from Jesus Christ? We need to pinpoint those and speak out.

In George Whitefield's day (see picture above) it was playing cards and dancing. Those were the things that were getting in the way of a relationship with the living God. This could still be true for some people today, but I think in the 21st century our emphasis is much different. People spend their time watching TV, playing electronic games, interacting on social networks, following sports, addicted to substances, overstimulated by sexual addictions, caught up in false religions. We need to preach both what is pure evil (tafficking in children for slavery and sexual gratifiction, for example) and warn against those things that keep us from learning about and loving Christ (deceptions and potential distractions).

Our problem is we're shy about calling a spade a spade--or a hoe a hoe, as may be the case. We don't want to name sins of individuals or in general lest we be perceived as legalistic. In effect we have let the legalists steal our right and ability to preach repentance for fear of being lumped in with them. Let's not let Muslims or other legalists take away our Biblical prerogatives. Let's not be afraid to name sin as sin and not call it something else. Let's not refrain from telling people to repent. We should call good, good and evil, evil.