Nonsense, Baloney, Gobbledygook, or “No Stinking Gimmicks, Part 3”

Some time ago, I posted “No Stinking Gimmicks” and “No Stinking Gimmicks, Part 2.” Even though this sermon excerpt does not actually say, “no stinking gimmicks,” it is a fitting conclusion to a three-part series.

 

Our pastor is very Biblical in His approach. The mission statement of our church is as follows:  “Grace Bible Church exists to bring people to Christ and toward Christ-likeness by equipping believers to know, live and defend God's truth.” For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel (Ezra 7:10, NKJV). This is carried out by reading the Scriptures, explaining the Scriptures, and applying the Scriptures. So they read distinctly from the book, in the Law of God; and they gave the sense, and helped them to understand the reading (Nehemiah 8:8). Man’s opinions carry no weight. Only the Word of God is, as many have said, “our rule of faith and practice.”

 

Following is an excerpt from Pastor Jeff Anderson’s sermon entitled “Celebration of Completion,” based on Nehemiah 7, which he preached on March 15, 2015. This excerpt falls under the “application” part of the sermon. The entire sermon can be heard here.

 

… I want to describe to you the continuity of identity that is the Christian church. Did you know that the Christian church is a matter of faithful people who have served God not just in this generation but for thousands of years in the past? What we find in Ezra 2 and Nehemiah 7 is the same thing you find in Hebrews Chapter 11 … a listing of God’s faithful people – people who have walked by faith. And when you start thinking that you are few and far between and that you are the only believers, remember, God has had His faithful people in every generation, and our identity is found with them.

 

Here is the truth – the American Christian church has become so arrogant that we think that we need to reinvent the church. We need to protect the church for the coming generation. If we don’t totally reinvent and do everything in a whole newfangled way, well then, we’re going to lose our relevancy and we’ll lose the next generation. You know what I say to that kind of thinking? NONSENSE, BALONEY, GOBBLEDYGOOK – and if you want to add any other strong words in there, I’ll add them, because all of that is a bunch of nonsense.

 

We’re not here to reinvent the church. We’re not here to revitalize or even protect the church from irrelevancy. What a bunch of nonsense-type of thinking. That’s the kind of nonsense-type thinking that says everything has to be new and cool and hip for a coming generation. We’re going to market our church to “Gen X.” We’re going to market our church to this or that or the other. Bunch of baloney; and here’s why it’s baloney – because Jesus said He would build His church and the gates of Hell would not prevail against it. That means it is not my job to build the church. It’s not my job to protect the church. It’s not my job to reinvent the church. It’s my job to, in the fear of God, be faithful to what God has given and be confident that Christ is building His church. And here’s the deal – our church is tied in with an identity of a whole long history behind us and a future in front of us, and that gives us the inspiration to take risks and be faithful and obedient and to walk by faith … A majority of the American church is trying to be new and hip and do their own thing ...

 

I love the fact that a younger generation has some new music that celebrates the grace of God. There’s nothing wrong with something that’s new, but to think that everything has to be new and to abort the past – that’s a HORRIBLE mistake. The reason we sing ancient hymns that were written hundreds of years ago, the reason we sing ancient songs that were written thousands of years ago, is to remember that we are not new. We’re not reinventing… We are something that’s built on a foundation that goes back millennia. Just as we enjoy those ancient hymns and the depth and the solid foundation that is there, we come to these new choruses or new songs, and we rejoice in them because they are expressions of the same grace and the same faith and the same Savior that goes all of those years back. [Note:  Our church sings plenty of new songs and new choruses, but they are selected very carefully for solid doctrinal content. We avoid the frivolous, shallow songs that are so often used today.]

 

There is identity, and the identity is that we are part of something that is far bigger than us … We just don’t market and scheme and plan and somehow run it like a business. We are part of what God has been doing among His faithful people for all that time. That gives us identity and it gives us inspiration, and the inspiration says, “Just as they have been faithful, brothers and sisters, let us be faithful. Let us sacrifice. Let us take risks. Let us be obedient. Let us walk in the fear of God. Let us be for our generation what a previous generation risked to be for us.”

 

I praise the Lord for giving our church a pastor who is true to the Word of God and who gives God all the glory. If you are ever in Colorado Springs, come and visit Grace Bible Church. You won't be disappointed.

Study in the Gospel of Mark

It is my privilege to teach an adult Sunday school class at Grace Bible Church in Colorado Springs. Our pastor, and therefore our church, emphasizes the preaching and teaching of the Word of God above everything else. This is a situation I greatly apreciate, since my Sunday school teaching has always been studying through a book of the Bible, verse by verse. No other activity of the church is as important as the study of the Scriptures.

 

This past Sunday, we began a study in the Gospel of Mark. Never does anyone get as much out of a study than the teacher does. Each time I study to teach a book of the Bible, the old, unchanging Word of God is new and fresh in the things I see and learn. While there is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9), the Scriptures are inexhaustible, and there is always room for more complete understanding. I am looking forward to the continued study as we work our way through Mark.

 

It has long been taught that the four Gospels each have a different emphasis. There is nothing new about that. It is amazing that the four Gospels put together give us a tremendous, complete picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. In Matthew, He is presented as the Messiah, the King of Israel. In Mark, He is presented as the suffering servant of the Lord. In Luke, He is presented as the perfect man. In John, he is presented as the Son of God – or even more specifically, as God the Son. It is interesting to note that all four Gospels, regardless of emphasis, present all four of these characteristics of our Savior.

 

The Gospel of Mark, which presents Him as the suffering servant of the Lord, actually starts out by stating the other three characteristics. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God (Mark 1:1, NKJV). Notice:  The beginning of the gospel of Jesus (His human name), Christ (His title:  The Messiah, The King), the Son of God (his Deity – He is the Creator-God of the Universe). None of the four Gospels leaves out any of these important characteristics of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

There are three important “beginnings” in Scripture, as follows:

 

(1)   Many have made an effort to put together a chronological Bible. I believe that in such a Bible, the very first verse should be John 1:1, which tells us of the first of these three “beginnings.” In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This is eternity past. Our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the Eternal God, the self-existent one, who has no beginning and no end.

 

(2)   Genesis 1:1 says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. This is the beginning of time, and indicates the first part of Day One of creation week. As difficult as it is to grasp, time is a created thing. It would be impossible to mark and measure our lives without it. God is in no way constrained by time, because He dwells in eternity.

 

(3)   Finally, Mark 1:1 says, The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This tells us of the beginning of the events that led to the gospel message – beginning with His coming out of eternity into time and space, and culminating in His death, burial, and resurrection. The message that began with His earthly ministry finished with his great work that brings salvation. I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved … that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures (I Corinthians 15:1-4).

 

If you live in or near Colorado Springs, I invite you to join with us in Bible-centered worship and study. Sunday morning services are at 8:00, 9:00, and 10:45. There are two Sunday school hours during the 9:00 and 10:45 services. There are four adult classes during the 9:00 hour:  First Peter, Hebrews, “The Cost of Discipleship,” and the Gospel of Luke. There are three adult classes during the 10:45 hour:  Revelation, Romans, and my new study in the Gospel of Mark. I encourage you to attend both a worship service and a Sunday school class. Our evening service is at 6:00.

The Global Flood

Our pastor has been preaching through the book of Genesis on Sunday nights, and last night he was in Genesis 7, which is the account of the flood. I appreciate very much the fact that he believes and teaches the Scriptures as literal instead of trying to discover something other than the clear and obvious meaning of a passage. This includes the book of Genesis.

Too many today want to make the Scriptures mean something other than what they say. One truth that is constantly attacked is the global flood of Noah. Why is this important? Why is it a big deal if someone says the flood was local as opposed to global? It is important because we need to believe what God has told us. If He has deceived us about the extent of the judgment He brought by the flood, how can we believe Him about anything else, such as the reality of sin, the necessity of salvation, the virgin birth, the sacrifice of Christ, the resurrection, the coming judgment, etc.?

There is no doubt that the flood was God's judgment on the sin and evil of mankind at that time. Many hate the very concept of God judging sin, but the truth of the matter is that God judged the world once, and He will judge it again. This truth is denied because man does not want to face the reality that God will hold the human race accountable for sin.

If one reads Genesis literally, it is really difficult to come up with anything but a global flood. The only way to conclude that the flood was local is to come to the Scriptures with a preconceived idea and interpret the events described according to that bias. Even many Hebrew scholars who do not believe that Genesis is true will admit that a literal reading of the text indicates actual 24-hour days for the creation week and a worldwide flood rather than a local flood. Reading anything else into the text requires some interesting mental gymnastics. It is in no way realistic and objective to read Genesis and come to the conclusion, using the Scripture alone, that the days of creation were millions of years and the flood was only local. Having one’s mind already influenced by someone’s agenda is the only way this can happen.

Following is an excerpt from an article about Progressive Creationism and some of its assumptions. The entire article is found here. Much of what is in the article is parallel to last night's message, which is found here on "Sermon Audio."

One of the Major Assumptions of Progressive Creationism:  The flood was “universal” (meaning “local”) but not global.

The claim is that Noah built an ark that carried him, his family, and the animals on an inland lake that was big enough to drown all of the humans who lived at that time. This is what is meant by a “universal” flood – it was just as widespread as humanity had migrated by that time, and there was no necessity for it to be any larger, since its purpose was to wipe out the human race other than Noah and his family.

There are several flaws in this thinking. I will address those with a series of questions and brief answers.

If the flood was local, why did Noah need to build an ark? Could he not have just moved elsewhere? God is neither stupid nor is He inefficient. He knows what He is doing. There would have been no reason for God to tell Noah to spend 120 years building an ark when he could have simply taken his family to another area of the earth away from the flood.

Why take animals on the ark when there would have been large numbers of most, if not all, of the same species of animals outside the area of the flood? But God had said He was going to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life. Are we to believe that not only all humans but also all animals lived in the area where this supposed local flood took place?

“And all flesh died that moved on the earth: birds and cattle and beasts and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, and every man. All in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, all that was on the dry land, died. So He destroyed all living things which were on the face of the ground: both man and cattle, creeping thing and bird of the air. They were destroyed from the earth. Only Noah and those who were with him in the ark remained alive.” (Genesis 7:21-23, NKJV).

How could a local flood cover the tops of all the mountains? Even though it appears that the mountains were not as high before the flood as they are now (Psalm 104), it would still be impossible for a local flood to cover all of the mountains by 15 cubits (22½ feet, assuming an 18-inch cubit). “And the waters prevailed exceedingly on the earth, and all the high hills under the whole heaven were covered. The waters prevailed fifteen cubits upward, and the mountains were covered” (Genesis 7:19-20, NKJV).

Would not a local flood make God a liar when He said he would never again flood the entire earth as He had done? There have been many local floods since Noah’s time, and each and every one of them would underscore God’s dishonesty if they were like Noah’s flood.

“Then the Lord said in His heart, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease’” (Genesis 8:21-22, NKJV).

"And God said: ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I make between Me and you, and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:  I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth. It shall be, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the rainbow shall be seen in the cloud; and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.’ And God said to Noah, ‘This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is on the earth’” (Genesis 9:12-17, NKJV).

“For this is like the waters of Noah to Me; For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah would no longer cover the earth, so have I sworn that I would not be angry with you, nor rebuke you” (Isaiah 54:9, NKJV).

If Noah’s flood was only a local flood, every time we see a rainbow, we should consider that to be a sign of God’s dishonesty. Clearly, that is absurd. God gave that sign to humans and to the animals as a token of His promise that He would never again destroy the world in the same way He already did, and that promise is just as valid today as it was in the days of Noah.

“God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19, NKJV).

“…it is impossible for God to lie…” (Hebrews 6:18, NKJV).

“…in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began…” (Titus 1:2, NKJV).

The bottom line is that both evolutionists and progressive creationists need a local flood, because a truly global flood explains the many fossil-containing rock layers without any need for millions or billions of years. A global flood would certainly change the topography of the earth. It is interesting to note that some scientists who have observed Mars have concluded that the only possible cause of its topography would be a global flood. Of course, the fact that Mars has little or no water does not seem to be an issue for them. On the other hand, when the topography of the earth is observed, there is immediate rejection of a global flood and the question, “If there was a global flood, where did all the water go?” Why do they ask this? The answer is obvious – a global flood would make the Bible true, and we obviously can’t have that because it would destroy evolution and progressive creationism. So “scientists” who are willing to accept a global flood on a planet with little or no water are not willing to accept the possibility of a global flood on a planet that is covered 70% by water.

Christian Answers.net in an article entitled "Where did the Flood Waters Go?" offers the following: 

“If the waters are still here, why are the highest mountains not still covered with water, as they were in Noah’s day? Psalm 104 suggests an answer. After the waters covered the mountains (verse 6), God rebuked them and they fled (verse 7); the mountains rose, the valleys sank down (verse 8) and God set a boundary so that they will never again cover the Earth (verse 9). They are the same waters!”

“Isaiah gives this same statement that the waters of Noah would never again cover the Earth (Isaiah 54:9). Clearly, what the Bible is telling us is that God acted to alter the Earth's topography. New continental landmasses bearing new mountain chains of folded rock strata were uplifted from below the globe-encircling waters that had eroded and leveled the pre-Flood topography, while large deep ocean basins were formed to receive and accommodate the Flood waters that then drained off the emerging continents.”

“That is why the oceans are so deep, and why there are folded mountain ranges. Indeed, if the entire Earth's surface were leveled by smoothing out the topography of not only the land surface but also the rock surface on the ocean floor, the waters of the ocean would cover the Earth's surface to a depth of 1.7 miles (2.7 kilometers). We need to remember that nearly 70 percent of the Earth's surface is still covered by water. Quite clearly, then, the waters of Noah's Flood are in today's ocean basins.” 

 

Labor Day IBC interview‏

Pastor and International Bible Conference founder, Jeff Anderson, describes what drives his life and ministry.

Check out the short videos here, here, and here.

If you are ever in Colorado Springs, come and visit us at Grace Bible Church and hear some Bible-based, sound preaching by Pastor Jeff Anderson.

The Indictment – Hosea 4-6

Pastor Jeff Anderson of Grace Bible Church in Colorado Springs preaches the Word of God without compromise. In this sermon, he emphasizes that it is much more important to read and study the Bible than it is to read and study about the Bible. To hear this entire sermon, click here.

 

“…My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because they have rejected knowledge...My people ask counsel from their wooden idols…”

 

…True intimacy with God and knowledge of God happens because of knowledge of His Word. Did you know that you cannot have intimacy with God apart from His revelation of Himself in His Word? We’re living in a day when there’s all sorts of mysticism, and everyone’s wanting to draw close to God. They want dreams, they want revelations, they want special “icky pooey” feelings. They want some sort of experience that’s going on, they want to have knowledge of God and intimacy, but they never, rarely do they want to find it in His Word…You cannot know God if you do not know the Bible. If you don’t know His Word, if you’re not reading it, if you’re not memorizing it, if you’re not studying it, if you’re not meditating upon it, if you’re not giving yourself to the study of Scripture, you cannot know God. It’s as simple as that….

 

…We are living in a day in which there is no knowledge of the Word of God…we are living in a biblically illiterate day…We’re living in a day when people do not know their Bible, and because they don’t know their Bible, it is very clear that we do not know God…

 

…as a nation we have forgotten God to where the Word of God isn’t even preached in our churches…Stop reading Christian books and start reading the Bible. Stop going to all of your Christian book stores and just go to the Scripture and let it permeate every part of you. Give yourself to knowing God through knowing His Word…

 

For more by Pastor Jeff Anderson, click here.

Pastor Jeff Anderson preaches Titus 1:10-16

Pastor Jeff Anderson from Grace Bible Church in Colorado Springs preaching in chapel at The Master's Seminary. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYlt7KutW2U&list=FLcIy5pr74spnT1fbrl-2Kfw&index=1

 

The Unknown God - Acts 17:16-34

...Part of the reason the Apostle Paul was grieved was that he had come to a city that had been thoroughly influenced by all of these false philosophies. He had seen how these philosophies and the false view of God they had begun with was now affecting everything in their lives ... their view of life and the value of human life ... their view of economics ... robbing from the rich to give to the poor is only sensible in that kind of situation.

 

Frankly, the Apostle Paul in Athens was provoked in his spirit in the same way that you as a Christian should be provoked in your spirit when you look at what's happening in the United States ... There is an abandonment of God and a biblical-centered worldview and philosophy ... When God speaks through His Word, He speaks to EVERY part of your life. There is a biblical view or politics. There is a biblical view of economics. We would call that the free market or ... the stewardship of private property ... There's a view of the family - a recognition of the high value of the family ... There's certainly a view of law ... that God is our lawgiver ... The majority of people around us today are now influenced by atheism, pantheism, or what we would call humanism or secularism. You say, "Well someone is a secularist." Here's another term for it - a liberal. The term "liberal" is describing someone who is a secularist, and a secularist in the broad, general picture is someone who is taking a worldview that is based upon an atheistic view that there is no God, and if there is no God, it affects everything about your life ...

 

... It is impossible to rid yourself of all that influence ... You need to understand it, you need to see it, and you need to confront it ... and we say ..."Here's where we're going, here's where the culture around us is going, and  ... we're going to reject all of their false views for what is a biblical view ... verse 21 - "It's always about something new, novel, different ... That is not new. That's been the way it's always been. We're always after something novel, something new, something different ... That is the way that it is in the American church ... I have to be honest with you ... I have no problem with that which is new. I like new gadgets ... but I also love the foundation of biblical principles by which I recognize there's not just something new and untried and untested. There's something that is proven, something that is grounded - a solid rock upon which I can build my life. So I'm not looking for something new, fresh. I'm not looking for all the newest ideas. I'm looking for that which is tested, tried, proven. I'm looking for something to stand upon.

 

Paul ... sees their idolatry, their philosophy, their novelty ... He confronts what he sees with Scripture ... "The Unknown God" ... becomes his launching point ... "God who made the world and everything in it." That is a great place for all Christian proclamation of God to begin. He is the Creator ... Biblically, you cannot think like a Christian ... you cannot believe as a Christian that the Bible is true and that somehow evolution is a possibility. You have to recognize that the Bible teaches through and through that God is our Creator ... What Paul says is a strong statement that there is a God and He is the Creator of everything that we see around us ...

 

... Some of you would say, "... Are you telling me that if I am going to believe the Bible that I need to be a creationist?" That's EXACTLY what I'm telling you ... Every major portion of the Bible claims that God is the Creator ... "If I believe the Bible, do I have to believe that God is the Creator?" Yeah. That's exactly what I've been saying...

 

... As Christians, we have every reason to believe that there is a God and that He is the Creator ... Talking about who this God is, we'll not only see Him as the Creator, but we'll see Him as the Ruler, we'll see Him as the Sustainer, we'll see Him as the Ordainer - the one who makes all history happen. And we're going to see that God has spoken to us and that God has commanded us to repent and to turn to belief in the Lord Jesus Christ ...

 

... As Christians today we must not ever be intimidated by the philosophers and idolaters and all those people who are looking for newfangled things. We must not be intimidated by them. We must firmly stand and proclaim that God is the Creator ...

 

To hear this entire sermon by Pastor Jeff Anderson, click here.

Being a Berean (Acts 17:1-15)

Pastor Jeff Anderson consistently teaches the superiority of the Scriptures over all human ideas, human opinions, and human efforts. Following are excerpts from one of his sermons, "Being a Berean," from Acts 17:1-15. The entire sermon can be heard here.

 

...The apostle says in 1 Corinthians 2, "And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified ... And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God." (NKJV)

 

... Our greatest reasoning and our greatest logic when it comes to biblical persuasion is to reason from the Scriptures ... because "faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

 

... The modern apologetic, the defense of the faith that you find in so many Christian colleges, so many books that you read, is somehow an attitude that says, "Let's take the Bible and hide it behind our back and now we're going to convince people ... and somehow we'll sneak in a little bit of Bible, maybe at the end." That is not the biblical way. The biblical way is to make sure the Scriptures are there and the Scriptures are the first thing. "Then Paul, as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures, explaining and demonstrating that the Christ had to suffer and rise again from the dead, and saying, 'This Jesus whom I preach to you is the Christ.'" (Acts 17:2-3, NKJV)

 

...The Logos is not just our persuasive words. It's the reasoning that comes from the Scriptures, and when you go to all of the Scriptures it becomes obvious ... Jesus is the Messiah. Jesus is the Christ. Jesus is the one we need to trust in ... Why? Because they received this, not as the words of human wisdom, not just because we are compelling, not just because we are persuasive, but because the Word of God has brought them to faith, and it's the Word of God that we must use ... There's no place for us to manipulate people just by sheer emotion ...

 

... turn on the television and watch all the commercials ... they're all about emotion. They're trying to stir people to feel a certain way rather than to think a certain way in order to buy whatever it might be that they have.

 

As Christians we must not fall into that ... If we fall into that, we can tell nice stirring stories, we can move people to tears, we can play music, and we can get them to walk an aisle and make a certain profession of their faith in Christ, but ... people who go out and with emotion they're trying to convince people and they only use stirring things and manipulate people and they get a certain response but the response doesn't last ...

 

In America we've done a great job in the last hundred years of getting people to walk aisles, make professions, raise their hands. We've done a really good job of manipulating people into making a profession of their faith in Christ, but we see very little fruit of that, and the reason ... is because we have fallen to the pathetic ... rationale of trying to convince people by only stirring and appealing to their emotions ...

 

... We must be sure we are not doing that. We must be sure we are depending on the Spirit of God to compel people and drive them. Why? Because the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God; they are spiritually discerned. And the thing we can do is pray that the Spirit of God would grant people repentance to acknowledge the truth. And we can plant the seeds of the Scripture and give them reason from the Scripture. Give them the Word, because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. These are the things that we must give ourselves to. We must not ever give ourselves to whatever it is that produces results and seems to help us pad our figures and count our results and somehow feel good that, "Hey, we accomplished something today."

 

... If I were to just get up and tell you emotional stories, and we'd play a little bit of music that could kind of manipulate you, then we could have you come down forward, and I could write to all my friends and say, "Hey, we had twenty people come forward today. Look at me. Success! Successful day! God was glorified! Twenty people came forward!" Who knows what happened with those twenty people who came forward? If instead we're simply reasoning from the Scriptures, we might not see a visible response. We might not be able to report a certain number of baptisms or a certain number of responses or how many people came forward to pray. Instead, we are depending upon the Lord Himself to stir and move in the hearts of people to where HE is persuading, and they come to genuine faith.

 

... We should go to the Scriptures ourselves and reason with them and see if these things are indeed so ... We have no excuse ... Be a Berean ... Go to the Scriptures and see if these things are true ... We should be Bereans - people of the book. We should give ourselves to understanding and seeing if these things are true, and then we use these Scriptures to persuade other people. We reason from the Scriptures to convince them of who Christ is. We don't figure out how to have some huge city-wide meeting, have the best music we can possibly have to entertain and get people in, get the most compelling speaker who's going to come and tell us some sad stories, make sure we have a couple of testimonies, make sure everyone cries by those testimonies that come - and then somehow give them an appeal for which they can come forward.

 

That is not how we're going to change America or how we're going to turn our world upside down. We can only turn our world upside down by being people of this book and by reasoning from these Scriptures and letting the Word of God produce faith in hearers ...

A New and Living Way

It seems that our pastor gives me so much great material for blog posts that I do not need to come up with very many of my own. He is fearless in his proclamation of the Word of God, and he is a great blessing to the people of Grace Bible Church. The following is excerpted from his sermon, "A New and Living Way," based on Hebrews 9:19-25, which he preached on Sunday evening, 11/11/12.

 

...I'm thrilled tonight to have as many young people as we have here because you young people all need to understand that this is not Sunday school games. This is not a bunch of entertainment, fun and games, and a joke.

 

The problem with the American church is we've made the American church all about entertainment and market-driven, and we try to win people in and woo them in by entertaining them. We start getting them on jumping jamborees when they turn two years old. Soon they're in fifth grade and there's more entertainment. Soon they're in high school where there's nothing but rock and roll music and dances and hollering and whooping and rejoicing and entertainment, and then soon they turn eighteen and they find out the world is a whole lot more entertaining than the church. And 90% ... 90% of young people who are growing up in churches today are abandoning the faith. And perhaps they're abandoning the faith because no one is willing to stand and tell them that if they reject the Lord Jesus Christ and do not come to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, if they reject and turn away from Him, there is nothing for them except for fearful judgment, and that is eternal judgment in hell.

 

And you young people need to understand that at Grace Bible Church we're not playing games with you. We're not manipulating you. We're not doing everything we can to somehow woo you in and get you to be members simply because we want you to be here.

 

We want you to know that we want to teach the Scriptures because Jesus Christ is a great Savior, and He provides a wonderful salvation, and if you turn from Him and if you turn from His salvation, there's nothing for you but fearful judgment for all eternity, and that is a burning, literal hell that Jesus Christ knew so much about that He left heaven to come to this earth and deliver you from that hell.

 

You must, you must believe in Jesus Christ. And it's not just the children that are here. It's also the adults ... this great Savior Jesus is someone to believe in, someone to be trusted, someone to give our life and soul to ... It's a fearful thing, fearful thing, to fall into the hands of the living God.

 

... It is high time for the American church to get serious about this warning.

True Salvation or False Profession?

On October 21, our pastor preached a sermon entitled "Strengthening the Church" over Acts 14:21-28. Following are some excerpts.

 

All of the activities of Grace BibleChurch are like lipstick on a pig unless we are making disciples. We can have a great Sunday school program, but if our Sunday school program is not about making disciples and preaching the gospel and strengthening the church, it is all for nothing ... an awful lot of youth ministry is lipstick on a pig ... unless we are making disciples and preaching the gospel.

 

Preaching the gospel, making disciples, strengthening the church ... He's not talking about the programs that it represents. He's not talking about having a better choir, a better nursery, a better whatever it may be. He's talking about strengthening the souls of the disciples ... Grace Bible Church is the people that are gathered together for this purpose, and the strengthening of souls is something that needs to continually happen ...

 

We are always trying to make sure we are teaching assurance of salvation ... you can know that you have eternal life, based on First John 5:11-12 ... Aren't you grateful that you can know? But here's a challenge: we have been so insistent and so emphasizing assurance of salvation ... that we have extended false assurance to people who are not true believers ... There is a time when it is absolutely necessary for us to exhort people to continue in the faith and that time at Grace Bible Church is right now. That's an exhortation to our young people. Just because you grew up in a Christian home does not guarantee that you have a walk with Christ ... Just because you went to Sunday school and Awana, even got your Citation Award or whatever it may be, accomplished lots of Scripture memory, if you do not continue in the faith, then you are not a follower of Christ.

 

I'm not telling you it's a works salvation. I'm telling you that there's a genuine demonstration of faith that is not just what you think ... it's not what you think, it's not how you feel in an emotional way, it is a demonstration of your full trust, including your will, trusting in Him, and if you're fully trusting in Him, then you will CONTINUE IN THE FAITH. I'm telling you, it's clear. You will continue. If you go out from us, it's because you were not of us. That's what the Scripture teaches in First John. The people who go out from us and abandon the faith and go that wrong direction, they go out from us because they were not of us, and no matter how they looked on the outside, and no matter what they said on the outside, and no matter how much emotion they had in responding to certain things, if they're going out it's because they were not of us. They were never saved in the first place is what I'm telling you, and I'm warning you that right here in this room are people who have made some sort of a profession, walked a certain direction, but you are right now considering abandoning the faith, and I am exhorting you strongly to continue in the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Just because you were born into a Christian home does not make you a Christian any more than being born in a garage makes you a car ... You say, "...why are you so worked up about this?" Because I've watched it happen over and over again - watched it happen to our young people. Young people who grow up going on mission teams, knowing the gospel, giving the gospel to other people, growing up in the youth group, winning their Citation Award, achieving all kinds of things, and eventually they abandon the Christian faith and have nothing to do with Jesus Christ, and then the exhortation says, "Ah, be comforted mom and dad, because at least they said a prayer when they were three years old and they have assurance of salvation." BALONEY! They haven't continued in the faith because they never truly trusted in Christ. And my exhortation is to believe in Christ. Continue with Christ. Follow Christ ... There is no other. There is no alternative. Jesus is IT! ... Beware lest you neglect such a great salvation. Beware that you would turn away from Christ. Beware that you would somehow abandon the faith. Young people, beware that somehow you would stop continuing in this Christian faith ... There's going to be suffering and there's going to be straying ... Make sure that you are continuing in the faith...

 

...Some of you are like, "Whoa, I thought I was in a church that taught assurance of salvation." I do. I teach assurance of true salvation, but I also believe that there are false professions of faith. I believe that there are people who respond with emotions or intellect who do not come to a full trust in Jesus Christ, and they look like us, they act like us, they continue with us for a long period of time, but if they abandon the faith, it is because they were never saved in the first place, and my exhortation is STRONG, "Be warned to continue in this faith. Do not stray. Do not abandon. Continue to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ...

...I'm so sick of giving false assurance to a bunch of people who are not believers. Have you ever heard this kind of nonsense? ... A kid goes off, gets involved in all sorts of immorality, drug addiction, becomes a murderer, he's in prison, but his mom says, "Whew, but at least he prayed a prayer when he was three years old. Whew. I'm glad he's got assurance." That kid has no assurance, because he's abandoned - I'm not telling you he's lost because of the bad things he's done. I'm telling you that the fruit of his life is demonstrating he never, ever came to genuine faith ... The assurance that you are a child of God will never be some prayer that you said with your mom when your were three, four, five, ten. or however old it was. Your assurance will not be that you walked an aisle at a church or raised a hand or said a certain prayer at the end of some sort of service. Your assurance will be the work of the Spirit of God in your life, and when you see the work of the fruit of the Spirit of God in your life, you can know that He who began a good work in you will continue until the day of Jesus Christ. Continue, continue in the faith...

You say, "Jeff, you're teaching a works salvation." I'm not. I'm telling you about saving faith that really produces works and change in your life. I'm telling you that when Jesus Christ comes into you, He saves you and He saves you completely ... I'm telling you that God will begin a work, God will complete the work, and part of God's working in you will be for you to continue in the faith ... I'm not causing you to doubt your assurance. I'm telling you that God is able to keep you and that God will keep you, but when God keeps you, you continue in the faith ...

If you are ever in Colorado Springs on a Sunday, please consider attending Grace Bible Church, a church where the Word of God is held in the highest regard.

No Stinking Gimmicks, Part 2

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post entitled "No Stinking Gimmicks," which referenced a sermon by our pastor. He recently hit some of the very same points as he has continued through the book of Acts. Even though he did not use the words "stinking gimmicks" in this sermon, he nevertheless very strongly reinforced what he said in the previous one. He emphasized repeatedly the tremendous truth that it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, not our human efforts and cleverness that brings sinners to salvation.

Following are a number of direct quotes:

... Jesus is the one who who was raised up from the dead and is now ascended ... Jesus died, He was buried, and He rose again, and this is the simplicity of the Gospel message. He died for our sins, He was buried, and He rose again, and all of that is according to the Scriptures ... it is that simple message.

Now friends, there's nothing innovative, there's nothing new, there's nothing fresh, there's nothing hip, there's no better way we can proclaim it. We simply proclaim this message. Now God has given to us a message that transcends culture, transcends time, transcends language. This is the message of Jesus:  His death, His burial, His resurrection. It is not an American message that we take to the ends of the earth. It is God's message that we simply proclaim.

...I get so tired of all these new-fangled theologians, new-fangled seminaries, new-fangled missiologists, who think that they have figured out how we're going to reach the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ and come up with some new, innovative, fresh ideas ... Baloney! Jesus Christ dead, buried, and risen again is the only hope for people to come to salvation and eternal life, and it's this message that saves people from their sins. This helps and encourages me, because it's not my innovation, my fresh ideas, my creativity. It's not even by my power or by my passion. It's by the message of Jesus Christ that people get saved.

... We don't have to come up with some new way to do church so that we can have young people and the next generation ... All around me I have people who are saying, "If we don't change the way we're doing things, we're going to lose the coming generation." BALONEY! You reach that generation by preaching Jesus dead, buried and risen again. He is the message of our hope!

...It doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, what culture you are from. It doesn't matter what language you speak. It's not about our innovation and creativity. It's about the message of Jesus who died, was buried, and He rose again. Jesus is the one who saves people from their sin.

Based on this wonderful, glorious message, the message that we go and proclaim ... Forgiveness has always been by grace ... Justification has always been by faith ... None of the law can justify you ...

... There is no way we can innovate, create, improve. There is nothing we can do to enhance and make the message better ... it is a sufficient message right now just the way it is.

... I have been direct and honest with you, and I have told you that Grace Bible Church is not ever going to be the hippest, coolest place in town. Matter of fact, we are so unhip and uncool that I am doing everything I can to hide any kind of technology ... If you can come into this sanctuary and not find a big screen ... if you have to look around and ask yourself, "Where is that projection coming from?" then I've accomplished my purpose, because I don't want to be the hippest, coolest place in town with all the new-fangled things and contraptions ... I'm not trying to be hip and cool, and I'm not trying to be innovative, and I'm not trying to think, "Hey, if we want to reach the college students, we've got to do something cool. Let's draw them in. Take off my tie." NO!...

This place is about one thing - faithfulness to the message God has granted to us, because this message is the only message that can turn people from darkness to light ... As boring as we are, we simply want to be faithful ... We just proclaim Jesus dead, buried, risen.

I praise the Lord for giving our church a pastor who is true to the Word of God and who gives God all the glory. If you are ever in Colorado Springs, come and visit Grace Bible Church. You won't be disappointed.

No Stinking Gimmicks

Our pastor recently preached a sermon entitled "The First Deacons." One of the many things I really appreciate about him is his continued emphasis on the priority of the Word of God. He has a practical, down-to-earth, extremely Biblical approach to preaching. His sermon emphasized the necessity of appointing those first deacons in order to insure that the apostles had ample time to dedicate to the Word of God and to prayer.

Everything we do as believers needs to be based on the Scriptures. Human effort falls so far short when compared to what we find in His Word. At one point, he addressed the many human inventions, and as he called them, "stinking gimmicks," that are so often used in an effort to bring people in to the church. If we are not careful, we can forget the truth of the statement that "what we win them with is what we will win them to." I once had a pastor remind me that the only healthy way for a church to grow is through the faithful preaching and teaching of the Word of God. To that, I can only say a hearty "amen."

Here are some direct quotes from the sermon:

"We're filled with so many stinking gimmicks ... they're all around us, these stinking gimmicks."

"Almost anywhere and everywhere we find stinking gimmicks to try and draw people in. They are everywhere ... trying to be relevant..."

"These people (the early Christians) didn't have any stinking gimmicks. They prayed and ministered the Word."

What more can I add to that?

You can hear the entire sermon at the following web address:

http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=72312164078