Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Parenting: 14 Gospel Principles That Can Radically Change Your Family

What is your calling as a parent? In the midst of folding laundry, coordinating carpool schedules, and breaking up fights, many parents get lost. Feeling pressure to do everything “right” and raise up “good” children, it’s easy to lose sight of our ultimate purpose as parents in the quest …

Picked up Cultural Concepts on the Cheap

Just a short note to periodically-wondering-ers, Zachary Wilkes (Faithlife) was helping Chris, but somehow knew I was dilly-dallying around on the Cultural Collection. And he cut the price enough to halt my dilly-dallying. Apparently now is a good time to at least query regarding needs. Maybe get lucky. Plus, he was nice.

This happened maybe 8 years ago too. That's how I got Anchor.

We Always Have Something Good to Say

Among scores of interviews I’ve conducted over the years, one simple statement from counselor Ed Welch may be the single most memorable.

Five years ago, I had a few moments with Ed to record an episode on biblical counseling for the podcast Theology Refresh. As no expert in counseling myself, or even modestly versed in the topic, I started the interview by asking a very basic question. I’m not sure I realized at the time how big a question it was, how potentially controversial, and how many respected counselors might find it difficult to answer.

“What is biblical counseling anyways?”

First, he characterized “biblical counseling” as taking sin seriously, and increasingly, he said, “we’re growing up and taking suffering seriously as well.” But then he went right to the heart: “Wherever you are, there is something you’re going to hear that is shockingly good.” The Bible, he said, always has something to say, into every kind of situation, that is good and pleasant and surprising. God’s words take us off our guard with their goodness. “If it doesn’t sound good, then we’re not really onto the ethos of Scripture.”

At its heart, that’s what it means to counsel from the very words of God: having listened well and asked insightful questions, we draw from the vast reservoir of what God has spoken and have something hopeful to say, even shockingly so. With plenty more to say, and a few disclaimers in place, that’s biblical counseling in a nutshell — and far more than just counseling.

Tell Me Something Good

What Ed captured that day in a couple short sentences carries implications beyond just pastoral counseling to every aspect of the Christian life. For one, our devotional lives. As we read God’s words for ourselves, we’re on the lookout not only for what’s true, but also what’s good, what delights the born-again heart. And in conversation with a brother or sister in Christ, we aim not only to communicate truth, but also to share something good, to speak the truth in such a way that it sparks joy in God.

Another place where Ed’s insight often comes into practical view is Christian teaching. On every subject, related to every doctrine — in teaching any text in the Bible — there is always something good to see, and something good to say. That doesn’t mean we only have things to say that sound and feel good. Indeed, in a world like ours, with sin-sick hearts like ours, we have many difficult, inconvenient, even offensive truths that love must speak. But Christianity always has more to offer than just the hard words. We always have something good to say.

Always Something Good

When Moses asked to see God’s glory, what did God put on display? “I will make all my goodness pass before you” (Exodus 33:19). Small children may sing, on repeat, the simple line, “God is so good,” but as adults, and as the most veteran of Christians, we dare not move beyond this basic and all-pervasive reality.

The message of Christianity is not only true at every point, but also good. We do, after all, call it “the good news.” And as Christians — and Christian counselors and Christian teachers — we have this shockingly good privilege: we always have something good to say. No matter how dark the day, no matter how deep the sin, no matter how devastating the consequences — and without minimizing or suppressing the pain and hurt — we always have something good to say. Christians are the best resourced people on the planet. It’s true in the counseling room, true in the classroom, true in community group, true in the pulpit, and true in personal conversation.

Teach What Is Good

The apostle Paul gives this clear and simple charge: “As for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1). Truth is vital. But truth alone is not enough, and that’s evident from what he says just two verses later. Older women, he says,

are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. (Titus 2:3–5)

Some things never change. Apparently unbelievers in the first century were trying to sell young women on things not all that foreign to what our society is selling today. And Paul’s counsel to the older women is not to simply smash it on the anvil of what is right and true, but to teach what is good.

What Christianity offers is good, not restrictive — not mere duty, but delight. It is good to love husband and children. Self-control will reap greater joy in the end. There is deep satisfaction in attending to the home, great beauty in genuine kindness, sweet blessing in glad submission — all that God himself may be honored, not reviled, not only as true, but also as good.

Good News Rebukes

This word to older women gives us a glimpse into the calling and privilege of every Christian. When we are faithful to speak what accords with God’s own words, we say something good — and we should own it and act like it and aim to embody it. Christians do not lay heavy burdens on their hearers, but continually offer them God’s own goodness. Our hard words always serve a greater good. We rebuke, reprove, and correct, to offer something better. We warn and admonish, to keep loved ones on the path of joy.

When Titus 1:9 tells elders in the local church that they must “be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it,” we shouldn’t take that as a charge to split our energy and attention in half between instruction and rebuke. Teaching what is good comes first, and is ultimate. Correcting opponents serves the greater goal of offering something good. Christian teaching is asymmetrical. Attacking error is not the end, but a means to drawing others into the sight and enjoyment of truth.

What Good Do I Have to Share?

One of the great privileges and callings of being a Christian is that we’re always peddling hope. We always have something good to say — whether we’re walking into a hospital room, or spending another holiday with hostile family members, or scrolling through discouraging news about our nation, or sitting with a friend who has been running from God.

Whether by nature or nurture, some of us identify and explicitly hold out the good to our hearers more naturally than others. But whatever our tendencies, one habit any Christian can cultivate is to ask ourselves, What good is God calling me to speak into this context? In addition to the warnings, corrections, and hard truths, what good do I have to offer?

There will be times to say very little as we sit and weep with those who weep. But a time will come to speak. We don’t always have to say something good. But we do always have something good to say. Even in the darkest of days, even in the deepest of valleys, even to the most recalcitrant of sinners, we have hope to speak.

God’s words, faithfully represented, will prove soul-saving and life-giving to our hearers. They are good for us, and when we turn to extend them to others in a way fitting to the moment, we are doing them profound good. Especially when we let the goodness of his word pervade the flavor of ours. Stocked with Scripture, we always have something good to say, even shockingly good.

Why Did God Create the World?

God created and sustains everything in this universe to display his glorious grace in Jesus.

Atlas - save highlighted area of map

In the Atlas Tool, I want to save just the highlighted area of a map to a file to embed into a document or Powerpoint. The map as it comes over has the highlighted area and the shaded area, so I have to edit the graphic before I embed it. Here is an example of how the map looks when saved to a graphic.

Is there a way to just save the highlighted area or make the entire map highlighted? Even better would be the ability to mark an area of the map to save as a file or send to a Powerpoint

"If You Faithfully Obey" -- Deuteronomy 28:1-20

Link:

http://ift.tt/2xfWavg

Format:

Audio/MP3

Topic(s):

Chapters 27-30

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Kim Riddlebarger

The Unhypocritical Jesus

Link:

http://ift.tt/2jIvlKG

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Jesus Christ

Hypocricy

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Nick Batzig

The Unbreakable Golden Chain: “To the Praise of His Glorious Grace”

Link:

http://ift.tt/2hhbQIk...

Format:

PDF

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Nollie Malabuyo

The “Golden Chain of Redemption - Romans 8:29-30 (5-Part MP3 Series)

Link:

http://ift.tt/2hj7nkG

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Multimedia

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Dr Jospeh Pipa

macOS 11 (High Sierra) compatibility

I know that we have a number of beta testers using macOS 11, but with the release scheduled for next week, do we have a "thumbs up" for support come release date (Monday, September 25)?

Happiness Is Not Hidden in Marriage

No one in Christ ever has to wait for joy. We may have to wait for a husband or a wife, or for a job, or for physical healing or relief, or for reconciliation with family members or friends. We may have to wait for all those things and a thousand more — with no guarantee that any of those things will ever come to us in this life. But the sinless Son of God bled and died to ensure that you and I never have to wait for happiness. http://ift.tt/2hhMjyB

Happiness Is Not Hidden in Marriage

From: Desiring God

25,297 years: emeritus missionaries mark their call

“You, like Paul, found many ways to stay in place.”

Drew Carson*, a leader with the International Mission Board, told emeritus Southern Baptist missionaries, who recorded a total of 25,297 years of service during their careers, that the New Testament apostle “could have left … but he chose to stay the course,” as recorded in 1 Corinthians 16:8-9.

“Your ministry of staying the course has also helped the IMB stay the course,” Carson said.

The gathering, called Celebration of Emeriti, occurs every five years, with about 950 emeritus missionaries in attendance at this year’s event Sept. 11-14 at Ridgecrest, North Carolina.

Around 1,200 were originally scheduled to come to the four-day gathering, but weather and health issues kept some away. Hurricane Irma’s path through Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee forced several airports to close, resulting in many canceled flights.

Donna and Gregg Fort pause to pray during the Celebration of Emeriti at Ridgecrest, N.C. The Forts took the gospel to Sub-Saharan African peoples for 30 years. IMB Photo by Chris Carter

There are approximately 18,500 IMB alumni, with 2,250 holding emeritus status, which is achieved if either the husband or wife (if married) is at least 55 years old and their years of service equals 80. Alumni include all mid- and long-term former missionaries.

For 31 new emeriti missionaries this year, their stories added to the colorful heritage of Southern Baptist global missions.

Feel the music

Pearl Vernon*, who served 31 years in the Middle East, learned during the Ridgecrest gathering that Hurricane Irma had damaged the garage in the mission house where she is living in Florida, totaling her vehicle.

Nevertheless, characteristic of her calling in music and drama, she recounted her service in the Middle East.

“I knew God wanted me to serve overseas,” she said, but she waited eight years before the IMB posted a request for a music and drama teacher.

Vernon had been a band teacher at her hometown high school, but she wasn’t sure she would be able to have a band in the Middle East but took along a few instruments in case an opportunity arose.

A colleague on the mission field shared a newspaper article about a member of the ruling family looking for people with music backgrounds. That led to Vernon being “in on the ground floor of the National Music Conservatory, and that paralleled my development of the music program at the school.”

“I was there to share Jesus, and music was my avenue.”

The conservatory offered the only comprehensive music program in the Middle East. “I could have been enveloped in the music,” Vernon said. “I could have very easily lost my way as far as why I was there. God impressed upon me … I was there to share Jesus, and music was my avenue.”

She introduced a “talk time” to her students, which consisted of sharing a parable or biblical story, with the students spending time discussing it. When Vernon was leaving the mission field, she wanted the talk times to continue and was pleased when her successor sent her the schedule with talk times included.

“God built this program,” she told them. “You leave Him out of the equation, the program will fall.”

Back in her hometown, Vernon is looking for a position in music. She says she would love to teach at the college level again. “I know, without a doubt, God will [open a door] when the path and the time is right,” she said. “When He’s ready for something, the doors open, and you go through.”

Meanwhile, she is active in her church, where she started a hand bell choir.

Vernon laments that “America is not the place I left,” but she hopes she can be a light within her community for God’s truth.

“He can use a musician,” she said. “He can use a plumber. Whatever your skills and talents are, He can use that to increase His Kingdom.”

One calling, numerous roles

Darren and Yvonne Cantwell,* who were serving in South Asia when they retired, now live in Alabama where he serves as a church’s pastor of mobilization.

Growing up in Tucson, Ariz., Darren learned about people groups and reaching the nations with the gospel while he was in college. He talked to his pastor and was introduced to the IMB Journeyman program, where he served in Scotland. He attended Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, where he met Yvonne.

She was raised as a missionary kid in Indonesia. Her parents served 29 years with IMB, and she would often talk about her parents’ work. “In my mind, that’s what it was, my parents’ work,” she recounted. But after spending time in Taiwan as a summer missionary, she felt called to share the Gospel across cultures.

She was a student at Samford University at the time. When she graduated, she worked at the national Woman’s Missionary Union in Birmingham for a while before going to SWBTS.

In an interview with the Biblical Recorder, Yvonne reminisced that it was her senior year in college — Dec. 31, 1979 — that she signed a public profession of her call to missions. When she met Darren in seminary seven years later, they discovered a card he had signed one day later — Jan. 1, 1980 — indicating that he would go anywhere God called him.

When the wall came down in Berlin in 1989, Darren wanted to go, but God kept closing the door to all the jobs for which they applied.

“We prayed, ‘Lord, where in the world do You want us to go?’” he said, admitting that was a “dangerous” prayer.

“We prayed, ‘Lord, where in the world do You want us to go?’” he said, admitting that was a “dangerous” prayer.

They served in Pakistan for eight years before God called them to their next assignment. In 1999, they moved to Richmond, Va., to work at IMB as candidate consultants. After three years and several requests, the couple moved to the Pacific Rim to work with Muslims in Southeast Asia.

After five years, Darren and Yvonne were having a visa issue and had to move to Singapore where Darren was asked to be interim regional leader for that region. He later became a leader in South Asia.

“Every time, the Lord kind of brought these things to us, we never sought out any of these changes,” Darren said.

Last year both had a word from the Lord that it was time to step aside. “For me,” Darren said, it was about letting “the next generation lead.” They were on stateside assignment for a year while Darren was working on his dissertation. He was then offered the job in Alabama.

Yvonne described coming back to America as a “cross-cultural experience.” Darren says they are still in the “honeymoon stage” where everything works, like electricity and plumbing.

‘Breathtaking’ service

IMB President David Platt, on Sept. 12, told the retired missionaries that being among them made him grateful for where God has him.

“This is what matters,” he said. “You have given your lives. I look over 170 years [of IMB history] and I see a legacy of faithful Gospel proclamation. That … is breathtaking.”

Speaking from 1 Corinthians 4:1-2, Platt pointed to being faithful as the one criteria to judge success as a believer and a missionary. “We trust God,” he said. “We plead with God for fruitfulness.”

Evelyn and John Pruitt pray with their fellow emeritus missionaries. The Pruitts served through the IMB in Trinidad for 15 years. IMB Photo by Chris Carter

Platt described the local church as God’s agent for sending missionaries while the IMB exists to equip churches to send out more missionaries, marketplace missionaries, retirees and others.

While “we have limited ability to send out fully supported missionaries around the world,” Platt said there’s a new push to be limitless, to exhaust all avenues of sending people to spread God’s message.

He introduced IMB’s vice presidents to the missionaries, who spoke about how IMB partners with Southern Baptists in global engagement, training, mobilization and support services. Platt talked about a plurality of leaders. “It’s never just about the Spirit of God in one person,” he said.

In another address to the emeritus missionaries, Platt preached from Esther 4 describing himself as a dwarf standing on giants’ shoulders. “I praise God for His grace represented all around this room,” he said.

Reflecting on his three years as IMB president, he shared two key truths God has taught him: God is sovereignly orchestrating all of history for the accomplishment of His purpose; and each believer has a part to play in the accomplishment of that purpose. Naming several world leaders, Platt said God has them all in the palm of His hand.

Regarding financial realities of the IMB in recent years, Platt said problems needed to be addressed, such as the entity not meeting its budget; using the sale of properties to pay for expenses; and using reserve funds to offset the cost of sending more missionaries.

“We asked everyone to … go to the Lord … and put a blank check before Him” to seek God individually to make tough decisions about their place at the IMB. He talked about the challenge, heartache and emotions associated with such decisions, yet pointed to Romans 8:28: “All things, even the things we don’t understand,” he said, work together for His purpose.

From left, Diane Pace, Sali*, Bev Vaughn and Ann Verlander squeeze together for a selfie during a celebration of former IMB missionaries at the Ridgecrest Conference Center. The women served together in West Africa. IMB Photo by Chris Carter

Esther risked her life for her people, just like IMB missionaries are asked to do, Platt said.

“We’re saying we’ll do whatever it takes,” he said, encouraging those making a transition. “Where you live right now is not an accident. … He has put you where you are.” He encouraged the retired missionaries to be mobilizers in their churches, “leveraging all that God has entrusted to you.”

In the last session Sept. 14, Platt called on the retired missionaries to keep running the race, speaking from 1 Corinthians 15.

“You and I are not here on this earth for very long,” he said. “Don’t waste it.” He reminded the emeritus missionaries that throughout the world many are lost “right now, separated from God.”

“Biblical Christianity is about laying down our rights,” Platt emphasized. “It’s about sacrificing comforts.

“Keep running the race all the way until the end. Make His gospel known, knowing that your labor is not in vain.”

*Name changed.

Dianna L. Cagle is production editor for the Biblical Recorder, newsjournal for North Carolina. This story was first published by the Biblical Recorder as IMB hosts emeriti celebration at Ridgecrest and on Baptist Press.

Save

The post 25,297 years: emeritus missionaries mark their call appeared first on International Mission Board.

The Unbreakable Golden Chain of Salvation

Link:

http://ift.tt/2jLPy2k...

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Classic Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Westminster Confession

The Ordo Salutis (The Application of Redemption)

Link:

http://ift.tt/2jLoFvx...

Format:

PDF

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Ordo Salutis

Ordo-Salutis

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Derek Thomas

The Order of Salvation

Link:

http://ift.tt/2jMfb3b

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Derek Thomas

Baptist in the Spirit, Part 3: The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

The Holy Spirit did not suddenly appear in a blaze of glory on Pentecost, baptizing believers and filling them for the grand task Jesus had given them. He has always been active among the people of God since he hovered over the face of the deep as God was creating the world. As Jesus is the “same yesterday, today, and forever,” the Spirit of God has a fixed character, not an evolving nature. He is the Third Person of the Trinity, God himself, he does not change.

Still, the Bible reveals the Spirit in bits, over time. We see a few hints as the Spirit works with Israel in the Old Testament and his work, though unaltered in character, grows in magnitude as Jesus appears, then as the church explodes onto the scene in Acts. The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament is the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. The essence of his work in Israel is the same as what it is today. But as the Scriptures unfold there is an unfolding of the revelation of the Holy Spirit’s person, character, and work.

There are four key roles for the Spirit in the Old Testament, the foundation for his work in the New Testament.

He is the active presence of God among the people of Israel.
He contends with the sinful hearts of human beings to bring them into alignment with God’s will.
He “comes on” and fills the people of God to empower them for the tasks God has assigned them.
And finally, the Spirit is active in the millennial work of God among Israel.

Lesson 1: The Spirit is God’s Active Presence on Earth

“And he walks with me and he talks with me; and he tells me I am his own.”

It is a nice song, but it is a bit of hyperbole. We do not walk with God and when we say we talk with God, it is a spiritual thing more than a physical conversation. There are only two times in the Bible when God walked and talked with folks. There was some sort of physical manifestation of God in the Garden of Eden until sin broke that fellowship and the first human pair were cast from Paradise. Then, for a few years, God walked among us in the form of a carpenter’s son from Nazareth. But during the rest of history, the God of glory cannot be seen or heard or touched. He exists in a spiritual realm from which we are separated.

But, our gracious God comes to us by his Spirit and grace. In a way that will likely remain mysterious until “faith becomes sight and the clouds be rolled back as a scroll” the Spirit of God is God’s active presence here on earth. He connects us to the divine and accomplishes God’s work here on earth. God ordained Christ enacted and the Spirit empowers. Even in oversimplification, there is truth.

The Spirit is Present in Creation:

In Genesis 1:2, the “Spirit of God was hovering over the surface of the waters” as God began to speak earth into existence. It seems that the Father gave the orders and the Spirit did the work. What God decreed in Heaven the Spirit accomplished on earth. In Job 33:4, Elihu asserts that “the Spirit of God made me.” The Holy Spirit is the active agent of God in the creation of the world.

The word for Spirit is ruah – breath. In Psalm 104:30, it says, “When you send your breath,

they are created, and you renew the surface of the ground.” Translations differ on whether the correct translation there is “breath” or “Spirit.” But the Spirit is God’s breath of life. The implication is that God breathes life into creation and sustains this world through the Holy Spirit.

Psalm 139:7-10 takes this concept to a new level. Not only is the Spirit God’s active presence in creation, but he is the omnipresent God who is inescapable in anything God has made.

7 Where can I go to escape your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to heaven, you are there;
if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I live at the eastern horizon
or settle at the western limits,
10 even there your hand will lead me;
your right hand will hold on to me.

From heaven to the grave, from the east to the west, the Spirit of God is everywhere. We speak of God’s omnipresence – he is everywhere. It is the Spirit of God who is God’s omnipresent Presence!

The Spirit is Present (in Power) among God’s People

As God’s Spirit is present in all of creation, his presence is set among his people in a special way. When Israel left Egypt the Spirit of God was among them in power – a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Isaiah 63:11 says that God “put his Holy Spirit among the flock.”

That presence is essential to all that God does. In Exodus 33:14, Moses receives a promise from God. And he replied, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” He responds in verse 15. “If your presence does not go, don’t make us go up from here.” While the Holy Spirit was not mentioned in the passage it is clear throughout both Old Testament and New that the active presence of God on earth is the Holy Spirit. Moses wanted to do nothing without the presence and power of the Spirit of the Living God at work through him.

The Spirit of God is God’s active presence here on earth, working in creation itself and among God’s people to accomplish the works of God. He work on earth what is ordered in heaven.

Lesson 2: The Spirit Contends with the Sinful Heart of Man

From the moment Adam and Eve bit into the fruit, a war was being waged. By Genesis 6, there was only one righteous man and God decided to reboot with the help of a Flood. After that, it did not take long for the sinful heart of mankind to begin to create false religions that attempted to build human towers to attempt to reach heaven instead of following God’s path.

Man Contends with God’s Spirit

Isaiah 63:10 describes Israel as rebelling against and grieving the Holy Spirit, despite all of God’s love, mercy, and grace. How good does God have to be to us for us to be faithful to him? Psalm 106:32-33, describing Israel’s history in terms of God’s faithfulness to sinful Israel, again accuses Israel of rebelling against the Spirit at the waters of Meribah. Numbers 20 describes how God’s people refused to trust God when they had a need. Instead, they criticized God’s work and grumbled against him. By turning to their own ways instead of obeying God, they brought grief to the Spirit.

The Spirit works in the lives of God’s people to conform us to God, to inspire obedience and righteousness. But in our sinfulness, we rebel against that work of the Spirit and fight against his inner work of grace. This grieves the Spirit and invokes the discipline of God.

The false prophets demonstrated the hubris to claim their own words as the words of God and believed, as in Micah 2:7, that the “Spirit of God won’t be angry.” These foolish prophets, according to Ezekiel 13:3, followed their own spirits instead of the Spirit of God.

There is something deep within the human spirit that resists God. Look at the history of Israel. From the moment God sent Moses to rescue them, how much better could God have been to them? How much more could he have done for them? And yet, their human hearts contended against the work of the Spirit to bring them to God.

The Spirit Contends with Man.

Though it sounds ominous to say that the Spirit contends with us, it is actually glorious. Praise God that his Holy Spirit fights against your nature, your inner desire to sin and to depart. God’s love fights for those who fight against him!

It is a terrible verse in many ways, but in reality, it is a great blessing. Genesis 6:3 says, “My Spirit will not remain with man forever.” The notes in the CSB indicate an alternate translation, one which most others prefer. My Spirit will not strive with man forever. My Spirit will not contend with man forever. This is a warning to Noah’s generation, but what does it say.

God is fighting for us! He contends for the hearts and souls of rebellious sinners by the Spirit he sent to be his presence here on earth. In 2 Chronicles 24:20 the Spirit of God grabs hold of Zechariah and confronts him with his disobedience. It is a forceful act, almost a violent one, but the root is grace. God is fighting for sinners, to draw them from the path of death to life.

As was pointed out in Genesis 6:3, there were times when the Spirit stopped contending and the judgment of God fell, but after that the work of God among his people began again and grace was restored. It is important to note that according to several passages, especially Joel, there will be a time of Israel’s victory when God’s contending with Israel through the Spirit will bear fruit and, as Romans says, “All Israel will be saved.”

Lesson 4: The Spirit will work to empower Israel’s millennial future

Two notes here.

First, I skipped lesson 3, because that is about the Spirit “coming on” God’s people, and will require a post of its own. I could have just renumbered the lessons, but somehow the eschatalogical one seemed like it needed to be last.
Second, I realize I’m delving into eschatology here and that is always quicksand. I’m just going to go with my views, realizing that some of you will diverge here. Don’t worry, your eschatology will get corrected when the trumpet sounds.

The millennium represents the victory of God, fulfillment of all his promises to Israel. The Spirit has contended with sinful and unfaithful Israel and it would seem that sin has won, conquering the chosen people of God. But in this future time, God renews and restores Israel, and it is by the power of the Spirit he does that.

Every prophet who spoke judgment on Israel or Judah ended his prophecy with a promise of restoration, promising a time of future glory when, according to Jeremiah 31:33, “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts.” Though the Spirit is not mentioned here, this is consistently a spiritual work throughout God’s word. Though Peter claimed Pentecost to be in line with Joel 2:28-32, the outpouring described there is even more spectacular than the one that happened in the Upper Room, and awaits the great day of the restoration of Israel.

The renewal begins when the Spirit of God gathers Israel back to the land, as Isaiah 34: 16-17 states. God declares his intent clearly in Ezekiel 36:24-28.

‘For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. 28 You will live in the land that I gave your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

He will gather them, cleanse them, give them new hearts and spirits, and give them his Spirit to dwell within. They will then dwell in the land as God intended when he gave the promises to Abraham.

Many of the prophecies of this millennial regathering, God’s plan to make the dry bones live, include the fact that the Spirit would play a major role. As the Spirit was present in the beginning, he will be present at the end.

Baptist in the Spirit, Part 3: The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

There are four key roles for the Spirit in the Old Testament, the foundation for his work in the New Testament.

He is the active presence of God among the people of Israel.
He contends with the sinful hearts of human beings to bring them into alignment with God’s will.
He “comes on” and fills the people of God to empower them for the tasks God has assigned them.
And finally, the Spirit is active in the millennial work of God among Israel.

Lesson 1: The Spirit is God’s Active Presence on Earth

“And he walks with me and he talks with me; and he tells me I am his own.”

The Spirit is Present in Creation:

The word for Spirit is ruah – breath. In Psalm 104:30, it says, “When you send your breath,

Psalm 139:7-10 takes this concept to a new level. Not only is the Spirit God’s active presence in creation, but he is the omnipresent God who is inescapable in anything God has made.

The Spirit is Present (in Power) among God’s People

The Spirit of God is God’s active presence here on earth, working in creation itself and among God’s people to accomplish the works of God. He work on earth what is ordered in heaven.

Lesson 2: The Spirit Contends with the Sinful Heart of Man

Man Contends with God’s Spirit

The Spirit Contends with Man.

Lesson 4: The Spirit will work to empower Israel’s millennial future

Two notes here.

First, I skipped lesson 3, because that is about the Spirit “coming on” God’s people, and will require a post of its own. I could have just renumbered the lessons, but somehow the eschatalogical one seemed like it needed to be last.
Second, I realize I’m delving into eschatology here and that is always quicksand. I’m just going to go with my views, realizing that some of you will diverge here. Don’t worry, your eschatology will get corrected when the trumpet sounds.

The renewal begins when the Spirit of God gathers Israel back to the land, as Isaiah 34: 16-17 states. God declares his intent clearly in Ezekiel 36:24-28.

‘For I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries, and will bring you into your own land. 25 I will also sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean. I will cleanse you from all your impurities and all your idols. 26 I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 I will place my Spirit within you and cause you to follow my statutes and carefully observe my ordinances. 28 You will live in the land that I gave your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

He will gather them, cleanse them, give them new hearts and spirits, and give them his Spirit to dwell within. They will then dwell in the land as God intended when he gave the promises to Abraham.

WRAP-UP: Prayer, DR giving top EC actions at 100 yrs.

Copyright (c) 2017 Baptist Press. Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The original story can be found at http://ift.tt/2jM9sud

new - 44 minutes ago

WRAP-UP: Prayer, DR giving top EC actions at 100 yrs.

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Intercessory prayer and special disaster recovery funding topped the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee agenda during its Nashville meeting Sept. 18–19, which marked the group's centennial.

SBC Executive Committee President and CEO Frank S. Page leads the committee in a special prayer recognizing God's power to overcome obstacles too great for mankind. Intercessory prayer and special disaster recovery funding topped the committee's agenda at its Nashville meeting Sept. 18–19, which marked the group's centennial.

Photo by Morris Abernathy

The Executive Committee unanimously approved a resolution calling Southern Baptists and other Christians to prevailing prayer in the midst of "racial unrest, cataclysmic storms, raging wildfires, political strife, daily shootings in cities across the land, and rampant disregard for the commands and teachings of God's Word."

EC President Frank S. Page led those in attendance in a special prayer, recognizing God's power to overcome obstacles too great for mankind.

"The needs that are out there are bigger than we are, but they're not bigger than You, and we rely on You," Page interceded. "We pray, God, that God's people would rise up to minister like never before ... and do what Christian people do, because it's right, because there's a need."

EC chairman Stephen Rummage pledged to read the resolution during Sept. 24 worship services at his pastorate, Bell Shoals Baptist Church in Brandon, Fla., and exhorted other pastors and leaders to do the same.

"I know that my church family will be thrilled to know that the leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention has a heart for prayer, and we're just going to have a season of prayer together as a church, related to the needs that are explained and so beautifully talked about in this resolution," Rummage said. "I would challenge you and encourage you to do that if you're a pastor, and certainly any leadership opportunity the Lord would give you, to call our people to prayer."

The resolution encourages Christians to pray by:

-- "Humbly acknowledging God's sovereign control over the world He created;"

-- "Regularly communing with God through meditating on His Word and praying in the Spirit;"

-- "Earnestly desiring to know the heart of God, the mind of Christ, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit in every word, thought, and deed," and

-- "Joyfully turning from fleshly allurements that seek to distract us from complete surrender to the Lordship of Jesus Christ over every area of our lives."

With Southern Baptists responding concurrently to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, and with Hurricane Maria raging through the already battered Caribbean, Southern Baptists committed additional dollars to disaster recovery.

The EC will give the first $1.25 million of any overage in the SBC's 2016-2017 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget to disaster relief efforts in Florida and Texas. The full budget overage for the Executive Committee, meanwhile, will be forwarded to the International Mission Board for international disaster relief, the EC voted, while also making provision for other SBC entities to assist with hurricane relief from their budgets through a one-time action to suspend SBC bylaw stipulations.

The actions came as the EC marked 100 years of service. Southern Baptists formed the EC in 1917 "to act for the Convention during the interim of its meetings on matters not otherwise provided for in its plans of work."

In what Page described as a "low-key" celebration, he told the EC "we don't exist to promote ourselves. We exist to make sure missions and ministries of the Southern Baptist Convention succeed.... So we don't need to have much attention to ourselves."

In other business, the EC received a report from an ad hoc Cooperative Program Study Committee formed at the EC's February 2017 meeting after a motion cited a "current reality in Southern Baptist life of churches either escrowing or discontinuing Cooperative Program funds."

In its report, the study committee said less than .0016 percent of Southern Baptist churches have withheld, designated or escrowed CP funds -- a percentage "lower than anticipated."

The reasons for redirecting CP funds, the ad hoc committee's final report stated, "varied as much and the number of churches identified." The committee issued 10 suggestions and encouragements for increased cooperation moving forward.

In other business, the EC approved a detailed 2017-2018 EC and SBC Operating Budget of $7.45 million. That amount reflects the budget approved at June's SBC annual meeting in Phoenix.

Also during the meeting, Thom S. Rainer, president of LifeWay Christian Resources, presented the EC with checks totaling more than $778,000 for the SBC's two mission boards. The contributions were the sum of offerings this summer by participants in LifeWay's Fuge, CentriKids and World Changers ministries -- $468,000 for the International Mission Board and $310,000 for the North American Mission Board (NAMB).

In a special CP gift beyond its annual contribution, the Arizona Southern Baptist Convention gave the EC $274,500, half of a $549,000 estate gift earmarked for the CP. Chad Garrison, pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Lake Havasu City, Ariz., presented the check after leading the devotion during the Sept. 18 plenary session.

Resolution of appreciation

The EC approved a resolution of appreciation honoring J. Robert White for 25 years of service as executive director of the Georgia Baptist Mission Board.

Noting White's "unwavering commitment to God's Word" and "his steadfast devotion to the cause of Christ," the EC commended White for "visionary and effective leadership ... for the advancement of the Kingdom of God."

White began leading Georgia Baptists in 1993 and led the convention through "numerous crises that threatened the health and unity of the convention," the resolution notes.

In 2002, the EC honored White with the M.E. Dodd Cooperative Program Award in recognition of exemplary leadership promoting the CP. Georgia Baptists have given more than $1 billion to missions and ministry through the CP under White's leadership, the resolution reads.

In other action:

-- the EC approved a request from NAMB to amend the articles of incorporation of its former subsidiary, FamilyNet Inc., to change its name to Send Relief, Inc.

-- elected Mrs. V.J. Sanchez, a layperson and member of Briggs Road Baptist Church in Columbus, Ohio, to fill a vacancy on the 2017-1018 SBC Committee on Nominations.

-- declined to recommend at the SBC 2018 meeting in Dallas a bylaws amendment requiring that SBC nomination speeches include information on CP giving. SBC messengers, the EC said, "are fully capable of using all publicly available information about any nominee to determine whether the content of any nominating speech is accurate, sufficient, and persuasive."

-- declined to recommend to SBC 2018 messengers a referral requesting that SBC entities publish trustee contact information, because such information is available on SBC.net, in the online and print editions of the SBC Annual, and on the websites of various SBC entities as pertinent.

-- heard various ministry reports and updates from SBC entities and related organizations.

Hurricane Maria pounds Puerto Rico

Copyright (c) 2017 Baptist Press. Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The original story can be found at http://ift.tt/2xRwllV

new - an hour ago

Hurricane Maria pounds Puerto Rico

PUERTO RICO (BP) -- As Hurricane Maria pounded Puerto Rico with potentially record-breaking winds on Wednesday (Sept. 20), Southern Baptist disaster relief workers pulled back and prepared for a long-haul response in the Caribbean.

As Hurricane Maria pounded Puerto Rico with potentially record-breaking winds on Wednesday (Sept. 20), Southern Baptist disaster relief workers pulled back and prepared for a long-haul response in the Caribbean.

Image from the National Hurricane Center

"It's going to be a long, multi-month response with a lot of needs for volunteers and supplies," said David Melber, vice president of the North American Mission Board's Send Relief.

Disaster relief teams had just received FEMA approval to take much-needed aid to the Virgin Islands -- an area hit hard two weeks ago by the Category 5 Hurricane Irma -- but had to press pause on relief efforts when Maria rolled in.

With its 175 mph sustained winds, Maria "is really scraping the upper echelon of what's possible with hurricanes," according to CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam. The storm -- the first Category 4 storm to hit Puerto Rico in more than 80 years -- uprooted trees, ripped roofs off houses and sent thousands more refugees into already packed shelters. The infamous storms that hit the island in 1928 and 1930 pale in comparison to Maria, Van Dam said.

Carlos Mercader, a spokesman for Puerto Rico's governor, called it "total devastation" of "historic proportions."

Because of that, Melber said, disaster relief teams have a lot of work to do.

"We think it's going to be a three-to-six-month effort," he said. "There is a very high demand and need for volunteers both trained and untrained ones who would be willing to go receive training once on the island."

Melber said he assumes these areas hit hard by Irma then pummeled by Maria will be without power for "a great length of time." Getting clean water will be a big problem, he said. "They will need a lot of help in the way of getting food and having a water supply."

The first wave of teams is on standby, ready to go to the Caribbean as soon as traveling into the disaster zone is safe, he said.

But even with large-scale preparation, disaster relief forces "will be stretched very thin" as Southern Baptists continue to respond to domestic hurricane victims in Texas and Florida and victims of lesser-publicized disasters such as the Montana wildfires, Melber said.

"I'm grateful for so many partners across the Southern Baptist spectrum who have been working so hard -- some of them seven days a week even before Hurricane Harvey hit," he said.

Volunteers are working harder than ever before, but Melber said this could be "the church's finest hour as we have the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus and share the salvation found in Him with many who are hurting and asking questions."

For more information, go to sendrelief.net.

CP overage reallocation to aid hurricane survivors

Copyright (c) 2017 Baptist Press. Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The original story can be found at http://ift.tt/2jM9r9D

new - an hour ago

CP overage reallocation to aid hurricane survivors

NASHVILLE (BP) -- Southern Baptists' Cooperative Program helped survivors after Hurricane Katrina in 2005; it will do so again in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Harvey and, now, Maria.

Send Relief efforts led by the North American Mission will receive an additional $1.25 million for ministry in Florida and Texas from a reallocation of a Cooperative Program overage by the SBC Executive Committee from gifts by Southern Baptist churches during the 2016-2017 fiscal year.

Screen capture from NAMB

The SBC Executive Committee, in its Sept. 18-19 meeting in Nashville, voted to utilize overages in the 2016-2017 Cooperative Program Allocation Budget for disaster relief in two ways:

-- Designating the first $1.25 million of any overage in the SBC's $189 million allocation budget for disaster relief in Florida and Texas by the Send Relief ministry of the North American Mission Board.

-- Redirecting all of the overage that would go to the Executive Committee to the International Mission Board for international disaster relief initiatives such as those under way in the Caribbean.

The EC also made provision for other SBC entities to assist with hurricane relief from their budgets through a one-time action to suspend SBC bylaw stipulations.

The Executive Committee also issued a "Call to Prevailing, Intercessory Prayer" in light of recent natural disasters, including wildfires raging in the West, and the current cultural tumult in the U.S. such as racism and "rampant disregard for the commands and teaching of God's Word." (See today's BP story HOT LINK on the EC's prayer resolution.)

Frank S. Page, the Executive Committee's president, set forth the CP reallocation by noting to EC members, "We are blessed this year to receive more than we needed for our budget. We praise God for that. So we're asking that of the overage, $1.25 million go to disaster relief.

"But of the Executive Committee's overage, we're giving 100 percent of that overage to disaster relief through the IMB," Page said of the recommendation, adding that it's important that Southern Baptists be "proactive, take a stand and say, 'We want to bless those who are hurting in this difficult time.'"

The Executive Committee actions, approved unanimously acting ad interim on behalf of the Southern Baptist Convention, parallel those taken by the EC after Hurricane Katrina's devastation of New Orleans, including New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast in 2005.

The $1.25 million CP reallocation to NAMB's Send Relief and the reallocation to the IMB from the Executive Committee are "a good starting place," Page said, in an overage that could reach $8 million by the close of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Beyond the $1.25 million reallocation, the remainder of the CP overage will be distributed to the SBC entities according to the standing CP allocation percentages, with Page noting that each entity will have the opportunity "to give even more" for Southern Baptists' relief work in the disaster zones.

In a time of prayer stemming from the EC's call for prevailing intercessory prayer, Page prayed for its overall intent to stir Christians to a vibrant faith amid the nation's woes. Regarding the hurricanes, he prayed, "There are men, women, boys and girls now in Texas, Louisiana, Florida, the Caribbean, who didn't know what their lives were going to be like a month ago. But now they find themselves in extreme stress and anxiety, wondering where the next meal will come from, wondering where they will spend the night.... So Father, in this time of extremeness, we pray for Your hand of comfort. We pray, God, that God's people would rise up to minister like never before."

Page, in comments to Baptist Press, voiced gratitude to the officers and members of the Executive Committee for the CP reallocation, describing it as “a strong stance to minister to hurting persons in the many disasters that have recently befallen our nation and world.”

“It is imperative,” he reiterated, “that we be proactive and set a good example of ministering to these persons whose lives have been forever altered.”

On Sept. 20, Hurricane Maria was a Category 4 storm inflicting unprecedented damage on Puerto Rico. Harvey began its rampage of record rainfall and sweeping flooding in Houston, south Texas and southwest Louisiana on Aug. 25 followed by Irma's onslaught on Florida on Sept. 10.

Kevin Ezell, president of the North American Mission Board, noted that the CP reallocation underscores that "Southern Baptists have a history of ministering to and providing for disaster survivors in their greatest hour of need. I am grateful to the members of the SBC Executive Committee for taking this action, which will help us serve even more people who have been through such tragedy. And I want to thank Southern Baptists whose generosity in giving makes this possible."

IMB President David Platt said he is "deeply grateful to Southern Baptists for their generous giving through the Cooperative Program in a way that has led to opportunities for increased giving to disaster relief."

"It is a powerful sight to see Southern Baptists coming together as churches, state conventions and national entities to share and show God's grace in the midst of urgent physical and spiritual need," Platt said in comments relayed to Baptist Press. "Let's continue to pray for all those affected by these disasters and all those who are working tirelessly to provide relief in the midst of them."

Jeff Palmer, executive director of Baptist Global Relief, reported that the Southern Baptist humanitarian organization in partnership with the IMB, is assisting local Baptist partners and entities in three Caribbean countries.

"The contributions to the IMB from the EC will go a long way to place food and supplies into the hands of our Baptist brothers and sisters as they help with the continuing assessments and distributions," Palmer said in written comments.

"Moreover, we pulled our BGR team out before the second hurricane hit (Maria) and will move quickly back in with new assessments and waves of help," Palmer reported. "We have already committed $250,000 of assistance in [the Caribbean] and know that there will be calls for more after Maria. Thank you EC for the boost to our ability to respond."

Stateside, nearly 400 Southern Baptist Disaster Relief units from multiple states had been deployed in various capacities in Florida and Texas as of Sept. 19, preparing nearly 1.9 million meals; tackling nearly 2,000 chainsaw, mud-out, debris removal and mold remediation assignments; engaging in 1,300 Gospel conversations; and witnessing 225 professions of faith.

A video for use in churches highlighting the work of NAMB's Send Relief ministry can be accessed here.

CP withholding found to be 'lower than anticipated'

Copyright (c) 2017 Baptist Press. Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The original story can be found at http://ift.tt/2jLlZxZ

new - an hour ago

CP withholding found to be 'lower than anticipated'

NASHVILLE (BP) -- A committee established in February to study "the current reality in Southern Baptist life of churches either escrowing or discontinuing Cooperative Program funds" concluded that fewer than two of every 1,000 Southern Baptist churches diverted CP funds during the past year.

Rolland Slade

"This percentage was lower than anticipated," and reasons for diverting CP funds "varied as much as the number of churches identified," according to the final report of the CP Study Committee, an ad hoc group created by the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee's CP Committee.

The study committee's written report, which included 10 suggestions and encouragements for addressing future challenges to CP, was released Sept. 19 at an EC meeting in Nashville.

During the month preceding the study committee's formation, Baptist Press reported on two specific churches that said they would escrow CP funds based on actions taken by specific SBC entities. Other churches had taken or were considering similar actions, according to reports received by the EC. The CP Committee cited such reports when it voted, in response to a member's motion, to establish the study committee.

The study committee's objective, CP Committee chairman Rolland Slade told BP, "was to find out why churches were either escrowing, withholding or designating CP funds. That was the first part. The second part was to come up with redemptive solutions for whatever those reasons were."

The 13-member ad hoc committee received reports from executive directors of state Baptist conventions that 75 churches across the SBC "were withholding, designating or escrowing CP funds." That total represented .0016 percent of Southern Baptist churches, the study committee stated.

"It was difficult to quantify the total of CP dollars being withheld or escrowed" by those 75 churches, according to the report.

Only 14 churches were "identified and confirmed" by the committee as "escrowing, designating or withholding funds." Based on information from the SBC's 2015 Annual Church Profile, those 14 churches were estimated to have diverted a total of about $1.5 million away from CP.

Total gifts through CP in 2015-16 eclipsed $475 million, according to the 2017 SBC Annual.

Twenty-two of the 42 state convention executive directors surveyed "stated they were uncertain or did not know of any churches withholding or escrowing CP funds," according to the report.

Though reasons for diverting CP funds varied, the committee stated, "one of the more frequent responses was varying opinions of political candidates, followed by the amicus brief supported by the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission and the International Mission Board" backing a New Jersey Islamic society's religious liberty lawsuit.

Some churches said they decreased CP giving because of "congregational financial indebtedness" or because they believed cooperating with the SBC did not benefit the congregation, the report stated.

"Some reduction in CP" appeared to be "offset by a corresponding increase" in designated giving, according to the report.

Slade, pastor of Meridian Baptist Church in El Cajon, Calif., said "communication is the key" to resolving conflicts among the Southern Baptist family that affect CP. The study committee's 10 suggestions and encouragements, he noted, call for ongoing communication among EC members, EC staff and state convention executive directors.

Among the suggestions and encouragements:

-- "We encourage first and foremost that the Southern Baptist Convention keep its focus on the overall goal of winning the world for Christ."

-- "We suggest that in the event of a conflict or issues that are deemed threatening to the Cooperative Program, a process fashioned after the restoration model outlined in Matthew 18 be entered to bring about a resolution."

-- "We suggest that a summary report be made to the Executive Committee officers" during their "regularly scheduled meetings in February, June and September" of communications to the EC that may impact CP.

-- "We suggest [that] the Cooperative Program Committee ... bring a report to the SBC Executive Committee" of significant findings related to CP "annually at the [EC's] September meeting."

The Cooperative Program is Southern Baptists' unified channel for supporting missions and ministries in North America and across the world.

Another Mexico quake compounds disaster response needs

Copyright (c) 2017 Baptist Press. Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The original story can be found at http://ift.tt/2jM9nqp

new - an hour ago

Another Mexico quake compounds disaster response needs

MEXICO CITY (BP) --- In the aftermath of an earthquake in central Mexico that killed at least 217 people, Southern Baptists are moving to assess opportunities for response.

This Mexico City school was among many buildings destroyed by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake Sept. 19.

Screen capture from CNN

This Mexico City school was among many buildings destroyed by a 7.1-magnitude earthquake Sept. 19.

Screen capture from CNN

The 7.1-magnitude quake struck Tuesday (Sept. 19), exactly 32 years after an even-larger tremor devastated large areas of Mexico City and killed about 10,000 people. This new earthquake was centered about 76 miles southeast of the city and affected five states.

Less than two weeks ago, a magnitude-8.1 quake struck southern Mexico about 400 miles southeast from today's location. That tremor damaged 41,000 homes and killed nearly 100 people.

Now 2 million people in Mexico City are without power, and at least 29 buildings in the city have collapsed, according to initial news reports. Civil protection authorities in Mexico are evaluating the need for international assistance.

Baptist Global Response (BGR), a Southern Baptist humanitarian organization, "is already in contact with our on-ground partners in Mexico and surrounding areas to determine appropriate responses in the next few days," said BGR CEO Jeff Palmer. "We also are monitoring the Mexican authorities with respect to see if there is a call for international assistance."

After the Sept. 7 quake, a relief caravan made up of Mexican Baptists and Southern Baptist representatives made its way into that disaster zone. In addition to that response, Southern Baptists also have mobilized for disaster relief after two hurricanes -- Harvey and Irma -- ravaged Caribbean islands and the U.S. Gulf Coast.

Now the suffering of all those multitudes is overlaid with widespread trauma in Mexico, and yet another hurricane is bearing down on the Caribbean. Palmer calls for a renewed focus on prayer.

"Pray for the people affected by this earthquake," Palmer said. "Pray for the Mexican national organizations that are responding with search and rescue operations."

To learn how you can help with the ongoing Southern Baptist disaster responses, visit namb.net and gobgr.org.

FIRST-PERSON: From 'absolutely not' to 'come and see'

Copyright (c) 2017 Baptist Press. Reprinted from Baptist Press (www.baptistpress.com), news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
The original story can be found at http://ift.tt/2xScqTR

FIRST-PERSON: From 'absolutely not' to 'come and see'

ARMA, Kan. (BP) -- Growing up in the Appalachian part of north Alabama, I was never aware that I was from a small town. I knew Birmingham and Huntsville had more people than Boaz, but I never thought I was any different because I was from a rural community. I wasn't aware I attended a small church either.

Oak Hill Baptist Church was a little country church outside Horton, Ala. We had an old-school preacher, a song leader and a piano. The auditorium sat 75 people with every pew full. There was no sound system, lighting, overheads or projectors for lyrics. We had three different hymnals. Our song leader had to make sure to announce the hymn number and what color.

We had no youth or children's programs. Crying babies and disruptive kids were the norm. I didn't even realize noisy babies were an issue until we moved to Missouri and all the children in our new church were sent to their designated areas so the adults could listen uninterrupted to the message.

I learned about Jesus in that church. I learned to fear and love God, follow Jesus as Lord, repent of my sin, and have assurance in the perseverance of my faith. I learned salvation wasn't based on our ability to woo God. It rested in the relentless love of God for our souls.

Mrs. Gardner, my Sunday School teacher, would talk about Jesus with tears welling in her eyes. This woman had been rescued by the Lord and was obviously thankful. She gave her life to teaching young people about her Jesus. Her Jesus became my Jesus. God used this country church in the hills of Sand Mountain and its untrained KJV-only pastor who, as the pinnacle of his messages, would herald the cross of Jesus. He is still a hero to me.

I moved away from that church 20 years ago. The pastor is still there, they bricked the building and finally started locking the doors. After high school, I attended a Christian college in Missouri. After graduating, I went on to be a worship pastor in Wichita, a youth pastor in Detroit and a worship pastor of a multi-site mega-church in west-central Illinois. I took a three-year break from vocational ministry to work for a prominent chicken restaurant based in Atlanta. I was burnt out, had unrepentant sin and anger in my life and I needed the time for catharsis.

While managing a store in Joplin, Mo., my wife and I decided that I would serve a smaller church nearby. I began leading worship for a church across the state line in rural Kansas. A strange thing happened. My love for the rural church was awakened and began to grow.

My career at the restaurant was going well but I couldn't shake my calling or passion for God's church. I felt a tremendous burden for areas of the country and churches that are off most folks' radar. Not many men are signing up for churches in communities in decline with the closest supermarket 25 miles away.

My director of missions contacted me because a church in Arma, Kan., had just closed its doors and left its building to the association. I had always wanted to plant a church. But in Kansas? In Arma? After getting more details, I drove up to the little building. I had only one thought, "Absolutely not." It was a traditional white country church with no parking in a poor physical location. What could I possibly do here? Could anything good come out of that little mold-infested building?

Over time, I felt the Lord pressing on me to take that little church and start something He could use to bring people to Himself. Out of that calling, The Grove Baptist Church was born. Today, we have a thriving church in a little town of 1,500 people. We have locals, families from many neighboring communities and university students from a nearby university. We've seen God do something incredible in the most unlikely of places. Our desire is to have a regional impact and assist other smaller churches as we grow. We have an amazing volunteer staff who oversee outreach, communications, liturgy and children. They're essential to what we do.

When I initially sat looking at the building and thinking, "Can anything good come from here?" I had forgotten Nathaniel's response to Philip when Philip revealed that they had found the Messiah in John 1:46. "Nathanael said to him, 'Can anything good come out of Nazareth?' Philip said to him, 'Come and see.'"

When people ask me why I am a rural church planter or ask what good can come from Arma, my response is always the same: "Come and see." We herald the Gospel. We exalt Jesus. That, more than anything, is what rural churches need -- the perfect Gospel, faithful preachers and Jesus exalted.

The Ordo Salutis within Federal Theology

Link:

http://ift.tt/2yr0Qft...

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Lee Irons

God Helps Those Who Help Themselves?

Link:

http://ift.tt/2yrJxLF

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Brad Wheeler

Brief Synopsis of the Ordo Salutis

Link:

http://ift.tt/2wzoklC

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Ordo Salutis

Ordo-Salutis

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Robert L Reymond

Is 1 John 5:10 Relevant to the Ordo Salutis and 1 John 5:1/2:29, and 4:7?

Link:

http://ift.tt/2yr0Ko7...

Format:

Video

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Multimedia

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

James White

Civil Liberties Imperiled On American University Campuses

The survey results establish with data what has been clear anecdotally to anyone who has been observing campus dynamics in recent years: Freedom of expression is deeply imperiled on U.S. campuses. In fact, despite protestations to the contrary (often with statements like . . . Continue reading →

No "Highlighting" option under Tools?

While using the online cloud version of the Logos app, I can highlight text, but I cannot find a way to review all text that I have highlighted. There is no "highlighting" option under Tools. I am using Logos 7 on a Windows laptop.

Vale la pena?

Amados hermanos,

En el post anterior me di cuenta de algunas cosas en el camino de saber si un recurso sería de mucho provecho para mi. Ahora bien, me gustaría consultar si realmente me serviría tener este recurso (http://ift.tt/2wHHh0w) y cuál sería la diferencia con la biblia Hebrea Lexham que ya poseo en Salomón 7.

Muchas gracias.

IRBS Theological Seminary Phones are Up and Running

Another step has been completed in establishing the seminary: our phone line is up and running!

Here it is:
(682) 400-4926

For future reference, this phone number can also be found on the bottom of each page our site, and is also listed on the ‘Contact Us’ page.

The post IRBS Theological Seminary Phones are Up and Running appeared first on Institute of Reformed Baptist Studies Theological Seminary.

The Ordo Salutis (Order of Salvation)

Link:

http://ift.tt/2xSlkRs

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Classic Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Louis Berkhof

The ordo salutis or order of salvation.

Link:

http://ift.tt/2xSlgBc

Format:

PDF

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Wayne Grudem

Diferencias por traducción?

Estimados hermanos, Dios les bendiga! Ayúdenme con esto.

Resulta que estaba verificando si realmente me serviría tener los Darasets de Qúmran (http://ift.tt/2wHHh0w) y en esa página aparece un video, el cual seguí para ver si podría lograr algo con lo que tengo. El tema es que me dí cuenta que claro, con la ESV tengo los resultados que salen en el video, creo que son 135 en Hebreo.

Ahora bien, me emocioné y fui a mi hermosa RV60 pero me di cuenta que no me da resultados en Hebreo.

Ahora bien, revisé con LBLA y con NVI y si tengo resultados en Hebreo, pero muchisimos menos.

Si se dan cuenta la RV60 traduce aborrecerás en vez de odiarás, por lo que puedo deducir que por un tema de traducción no tenemos los mismos resultados, pero, yo pensaba que los resultados eran dados en la guía de pasaje en relación a la palabra como lemma o manuscrito en idioma original y no por la palabra en español. Es así? hay algo que no esta funcionando bien? Lo digo por la tan grande diferencia de resultados que tenemos entre la ESV que es una biblia en Ingles y los casi 20 o 30 que tienen las biblias en español.

Será un tema de que aun no se completa el tema de las conexiones con la biblia y la guía de pasajes?

Un abrazo!

theological german flashcards

Is there any resources such as flashcards or other tips for learning theological German with Logos?

Anarthrous Greek nouns Visual Filter

I have been trying on and off for some time to create a Visual Filter that would identify anarthrous Greek nouns (nouns that are not governed by an article).

I realize that the best way to find these is to use a Syntax Search or the Morphological Query Engine (in Logos Now). But I would like a way to quickly highlight anarthrous nouns using a Visual Filter.

Since Logos does not allow specifying agreement in command line searches or Visual Filters, it is not possible to do this perfectly. However, the new NOT search operator allows a pretty decent way of finding them, although with a few false hits.

Here is the Visual Filter I have created for the Greek New Testament and LXX:

@N NOT AFTER 2 WORDS @D

I used 2 WORDS rather 1 WORDS to reduce false hits when the article is separated from its noun by a post-positive conjunction such as δὲ (e.g. ὁ δὲ καιρὸς in John 7:6).

For Reverse Interlinears (RI) this does not work as well, since if the article is not translated, the RI tags the Greek article and the noun with the English word. For example, in John 1:1 the word "God" in the clause "the Word was with God" is tagged as the translation of the 2 Greek words τὸν θεόν.

For Reverse Interlinears, this Visual Filter solves this problem:

(@N NOT AFTER 2 WORD @D) INTERSECTS (@N NOT INTERSECTS @D)

This excludes nouns such as "God" in "the Word was with God" (John 1:1), where there is an untranslated Greek article. The ability to use INTERSECTS and NOT INTERSECTS enables a much better result for this type of Visual Filter than was available previously in Logos.

Both of these Visual Filters will falsely label as anarthrous nouns any noun with a distant article, such as the second article in a Granville Sharp construction. Thus it is important to verify in context that each noun is truly anarthrous.

Nevertheless this Visual Filter is a wonderful way to quickly visually mark up the biblical text.

I would appreciate any feedback on these Visual Filters or suggestions on how to improve them.

I hope that the time will come soon when Logos will add morphological agreement to command line searches and Visual Filters.

Doctrine of the Holy Spirit: Ordo Salutis, Part II

Link:

http://ift.tt/2w7EA90

Format:

Audio/MP3

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Multimedia

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Dr Sinclair B Ferguson

Doctrine of the Holy Spirit: Ordo Salutis, Part I

Link:

http://ift.tt/2w8cA50

Format:

Audio/MP3

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Multimedia

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Dr Sinclair B Ferguson

Justification and the Ordo Salutis 1 - Affinity

Link:

http://ift.tt/2w8cz0W

Format:

PDF

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Andrew McGowan

How to Kill a Church

Nothing destroys a church faster than when it loses the gospel. Our churches need leaders who never compromise on the purity of the good news.

Watch Now

Coming Back Together: Effectual Calling and Regeneration as Twin Realities

Link:

http://ift.tt/2yqq1yY...

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Derek Brown

Twins, not Rivals: Regeneration and Effective Calling in the Ordo Salutis

Link:

http://ift.tt/2wywnPm...

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Derek Brown

What is the ordo salutis? Compares, Calvinist, Arminian and Roman Catholic Views

Link:

http://ift.tt/2yqnFjq

Format:

Web Page

Topic(s):

Ordo Salutis - Contemporary Essays

Author(s)/Speaker(s):

Matt Slick

2 Quick Hacks That Will Help You Learn from Early Christians

My Christian tradition has heroes like every other. This is good, at least when the heroes are good; it’s biblically sound to have heroes (Heb 12:1). The Bible itself offers its (nonetheless flawed) characters in part as moral examples, as heroes. Part of the purpose of the story of Joseph is to make us say, “I ought to be like that”; and Paul outright calls on us all to imitate him, repeatedly (John Frame calls this phenomenon “revelation through persons”).

In my tradition of Reformation Protestantism, all the heroes tend to have arrived on the scene precisely (and this year, I mean precisely) 500 years ago or less. People named “Saint So-and-so” don’t get much airtime.

But years ago I was challenged by a seminary professor—and, separately, by an evangelical Anglican minister—to avoid chronological snobbery that neglects the church fathers. Slowly, by God’s grace, I’m trying to learn more from the teachers God gave me (Eph 4:11–12) before my great-great-great x 10 grandparents were born. A great way to do this is to discover how Christians from across the history of the church—not just since Luther—have interpreted whatever Scripture passage you’re studying.

This unapologetically Reformation-loving Protestant has found two hacks that help me do this. Now, dear reader, I share them with you. Beware: one is nerdy.

1. Use the textual apparatus in your Greek New Testament

The first one is the nerdy one: you can often get insights into the history of interpretation of a passage—sometimes going very far back in church history—by looking at the textual variants in it. The fact is that when we can discern a motivation for any purposeful “changes” to the text of Scripture (frequently we can’t), they are far more often “harmonizations” and other smoothings than they are anything else. Some variants exist, it seems obvious, because scribes saw interpretive difficulties they assumed were errors. (One common theory is that scribe 1 in the second century notices a problem and writes a word in the margin; scribe 2 in the fourth century comes along while copying that manuscript and assumes that the marginal note was meant to go into the text.)

I can’t say precisely how often this kind of interpretive smoothing happens, but I’m working on a project that has me looking at thousands of variants, and I’d say it happens often enough that you should check the textual critical section of the Exegetical Guide—or use the SBLGNT apparatus, or the Lexham Textual Notes—every time you teach a New Testament passage. (I personally am less confident about OT textual criticism—it is markedly different—and will therefore leave it to the side in this post.)

Here’s an example of what I’m talking about: in one of the two earliest and most important complete manuscripts of the New Testament we have, Sinaiticus, someone centuries ago added a little word in the margin next to Jesus’ statement, “Anyone who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.” You can look at a high-resolution picture of this page in the manuscript yourself: the New Testament Manuscript Explorer in Logos will link you to it online. In Greek the added word is four letters long, but it takes two English words to translate it. The word means “without cause.” And it is possible that the word was originally included in Matthew’s Gospel, that the reason it was added to this manuscript was that a previous scribe mistakenly neglected to include it.

This is one of those rare variants that actually makes a significant difference in the meaning of the verse. It clues us in that other Christians in the past noticed an interpretive difficulty and offered a solution. It raises for us an interpretive question we simply must ask: is Jesus condemning all anger, or only anger “without cause”?

I agree with the majority of biblical scholars, who view the word as a later addition, something Jesus didn’t say, an attempt to soften Jesus’ words. But I don’t think the scribe who did this did it out of malice but in order to protect Jesus from saying something that looks like a contradiction.

Jesus himself gets angry at people later in this very same Gospel. He angrily confronts the Pharisees, especially in Matthew 23, and he angrily drives out the moneychangers from the temple in Matthew 21.

When you consider the context of Matthew, and the Bible generally, it’s clear that anger is not always a bad thing. Anger can even be righteous, as in the imprecatory Psalms—and in God himself (Psa 7:11). However, any fair self-evaluation will reveal the truth of what one Christian writer said:

It is unusual for human anger to be free from mixed motives and not be in some sense self-avenging. (Blomberg, NAC 106–107)

Jesus must be speaking about that kind of vengeful, selfish anger, the kind of anger that even righteous anger can be twisted into. Paul says, “Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath,” because sleeping on it never makes this kind of anger better. This anger is not like a headache; it’s like a cancer. Only God can feel defensive anger with purity and never let it fester and decompose into sin. Not until God fully purifies us will we be pure enough to hate evil with perfect hatred (Psa 139:21–22). So I think the Greek textual variant here actually ends up not being significant. The passage means the same thing either way. With rare exceptions, don’t be angry with people. It’s tantamount to murder, because anger is the root of murder.

Somehow I find it comforting that ancient people whose lives were different from mine in ways I can barely imagine had the same exegetical and theological questions I do. Reading a textual variant like this, I feel as though I am reaching through a hole in the wall of time; I touch the ink-stained fingertips of a fellow believer I’ll someday meet; I anticipate the day we will both have access to authoritative commentary.

2. Check the Ancient Christian Commentary

Speaking of which: the presumed authority of patristic authors in other Christian traditions is one of the major reasons people in my tradition are turned off by ancient commentators. Protestantism is an iconoclastic tradition in which icons of Saint So-and-So are liable to get clasted.

But the greatest and earliest heroes of Reformation Protestantism saw Augustine, at the very least, as a hero, too. Augustinian grace theology lies pretty much one level above the apostolic foundation of Protestant faith. Luther was an Augustinian monk. The editor of Calvin’s major work comments that “throughout the Institutes [of the Christian Religion] Calvin’s self-confessed debt to Augustine is constantly apparent.” (lvii)

I couldn’t help but see, too, that Augustine is a world-historical intellectual figure of great importance. But trained as an exegete and having taken few historical theology courses (my fault), I didn’t feel confident in my use of St. Augustine of Hippo. When I did read him, I found this fourth-century theologian to be surprisingly “current.” But he could also go off on flights of allegorical fancy that made me want to clast him a little.

I needed help using Augustine and other fathers. And I found it in the Ancient Christian Commentary Series. I have the ACCS in Logos and have now made it a regular portion of my commentary-checking routine. I am regularly pleased by the pithy comments and interpretive and theological insights I glean from these volumes. I feel like the editors have done the hard work for me and I get to skim the cream off the top of millions of patristic pages, some of which were essentially unavailable for centuries.

The fathers often bring insight to the text of Scripture simply because they come with different cultural perspectives than you and I do. But then some of the illustrations they use work perfectly today, millennia later. I just read Augustine, speaking of taming the tongue, who says:

A horse does not tame itself; a camel does not tame itself; an elephant does not tame itself; a snake does not tame itself; a lion does not tame itself. So too a man does not tame himself. In order to tame a horse, an ox, a camel, an elephant, a lion and a snake, a human being is required. Therefore God should be required in order for a human being to be tamed. (ACCS 102)

That’s precious, and it’s useful. It’s true. Theologians and exegetes like Augustine (and Athanasius and Chrysostom, I find) give me confidence in 2017 that my Protestantism is not wholly discontinuous with their lower-case catholicism and orthodoxy. Their basic approach to exegeting individual Scripture passages is frequently just the same as mine. Sometimes I read them (and Calvin, their heir) and feel as if they have said the last word. It’s helpful and humbling to be reminded that I’m not the first interpreter to encounter Scripture and that wisdom will not die with my generation. As I prepare to teach through Romans this coming year, I intend to make it through the entire ACCS volume on the book.

Mark L. Ward, Jr. received his PhD from Bob Jones University in 2012; he now serves the church as a Logos Pro. His most recent book is Authorized: The Use and Misuse of the King James Bible (forthcoming, Lexham Press).

***

Study the Word with early believers when you get the complete set of the Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture.

The post 2 Quick Hacks That Will Help You Learn from Early Christians appeared first on LogosTalk.