Today I saw this superb yet simple blog article from Crossway. Enjoy!
We know we’re supposed to read our Bibles. We hold the deep conviction that this is God’s special revelation to us. But let’s be honest, sometimes it’s hard to nail down what reading God’s Word is actually supposed to accomplish.
Fortunately, the Bible isn’t silent on matters of its own effectiveness.
(click below to keep reading)
http://www.crossway.org/blog/2012/01/what-does-scripture-actually-accomplish/
There are times when a preacher is called up on to preach the truth of the Gospel while also desperately needing to hear that Good News himself. Brian Croft guest-posted the blog article (below) on the 9 Marks Blog today, sharing about a particularly difficult funeral he recently had to do. In the article, he shared about how he felt a uniquely heavy burden for that funeral, due to a number of factors (read the article to find out more). His story brought to mind the most difficult funeral I have had to preach–for a good friend, a former drug-dealer and addict, whom I had the distinct honour of discipling, marrying, and then, tragically, burying.
What made that a difficult funeral for me was not merely that I loved my friend dearly, but that he was so young in his faith in Christ and so much that had been wrong in his life was in the process of being healed. He was only just married the previous year. His step-son really needed the father influence my friend was providing. His new wife was also making new, great strides in her faith. A vast amount of pain and dysfunction was experiencing touches and beginnings of fresh healing and redemption as Jesus exerted His transforming power in their lives. And then all that seemed to be cut short–too short, too suddenly in a car accident.
I wrestled also with this because his funeral meant I had to return to the church and town I had only just left a few months earlier, under great conflict. I felt deeply inadequate, and intimidated stepping into that situation again. So with all this in my mind and weighing down my heart, I preached a Gospel message at my friend’s funeral. The Word of God had the effect that day of not only penetrating the hearts of some of my hearers with the news of hope in Jesus Christ, but also of comforting and restoring my own soul with the same Good News. If you can relate to the call to preach in turbulent waters, read Brian’s post below and take heart:
I have easily done over 100 funerals in the last 10 years, but none quite as burdening and difficult as the funeral I preached on Tuesday. It was the funeral of a dear friend and faithful deacon in our congregation that had been killed in the head on collision on the 2nd St. Bridge last Friday. The funeral was in this man’s hometown about 3 hours from home.
As the funeral approached, nothing I tried lifted the burden. No matter how much I prayed or meditated on Scripture, the weight remained and it was to an intensity I cannot recall ever feeling. As I reflected afterwards, here are the factors that seemed to create this “perfect storm” of struggle that peaked at an unbearable level just a few minutes before the funeral began…
[Read the rest of this post at the 9 Marks Blog]
Because I see here a widespread longing for connection. Other words for what I mean by “connection” might be community, belonging, acceptance, relationship, friendship, etc.
Serious Coffee, James Bay
In particular, if you take a stroll through the village of James Bay, south of downtown Victoria and right next to the parliament building, you will notice a common addiction: coffee. There are a lot of coffee shops in James Bay’s village centre. The more popular places seem to be,
I’ve logged quite a few hours in most of these shops. I see people come in with groups, as couples, by themselves. I see people wait for someone else to join them, bury their head in a book or screen (laptop or tablet), or sit and watch others. But why do people come at all? One reason must be because they want a meeting place. But for those by themselves, why then come? Why not make a pot of coffee at home? Or, if the quality is the issue, come out, buy a cup of coffee and return to drink it in the comfort of their own home? I have no real way of knowing why people do this, but I can guess. I think it might be that being in a busy place, where relationships are happening, where hot drinks and comforting food are available, where a warm ambience can be found, people feel a bit less alone.
I’ve talked to some locals about what they see as desirable about James Bay. Something all of them have pointed out is that people can come here to live and find that regardless of religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation or economic standing, they find James Bay to be a place of tolerance and potential inclusion. As I sit and write this, some people at a table next to me are discussing some community needs. The local community organizations have lots of posters up about community events involving things like arts and crafts and live music. I think it might be fairly common that people live in James Bay hoping to have more connection in the future than they presently have, or than they might have had in the past. And I think that’s why there are so many coffee shops in this small little village. Because the residents of this community are willing to spend their money on a cup of coffee in search of the idea of community. I feel the same way.
The way I see it, this is a natural entry-point for the Gospel.
…Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God…
(Ephesians 2:12-19 ESV)
Visit BibleWorks.com
In my first post in this series, I promised that I would be continuing a word-study on prognosis, following up on my findings shared previously. I still plan to do that, but today want to move forward with a look at Ephesians 1:1. These posts feature wonderful Bible software called BibleWorks (version 9), provided to me gratis by the nice people at BibleWorks. I’ve talked about BibleWorks before, but let me just say again that it has no equal when it comes to serious study of the Bible in the original languages. New for me, however, is that for the first time in my life I’m using a Mac computer (11″ MacBook Air and OS X Snow Leopard). BibleWorks is only available for Windows, but I installed it on my Mac by first installing Windows XP on VirtualBox and then installing BibleWorks via disc images transferred across my home wi-fi network (the MacBook Air has no cd/dvd drive).
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Paul’s letter to the Ephesians opens with these words,
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God,
To the saints who are in Ephesus, and are faithful in Christ Jesus…
(Ephesians 1:1 ESV)
Continuing in my little series of posts showing how to prepare a Bible study in Ephesians featuring software from BibleWorks, the place to start is at the beginning. And in this first verse there is enough material to fill an evening of discussion. Right off the bat, if people read this wrongly, there could be a pretty serious pressure of guilt piling up. I see a potential source of guilt in two words, “saints” and “faithful”.
As most people know, if they have been attending church for any significant amount of time, the word, “saints” means “holy ones” (Greek, hagios, a word that also means “holy” when used as an adjective). So if I’m sitting in a Bible study and we read this verse, I immediately could be forgiven for thinking this might not include me. After all, I’m anything but holy, if “holy” means I’m perfect in all my ways like God is perfect in all His ways. What does “holy” mean anyway? Let’s look it up in BibleWorks. The Louw-Nida lexicon module gives the definition, “pertaining to being holy in the sense of superior moral qualities and possessing certain essentially divine qualities in contrast with what is human – ‘holy, pure, divine’.” If this is what holy people are like, then this letter is not for me. But let’s keep reading.
The other word I mentioned as a source of guilt is the word, “faithful”. Why? Because if I judge myself, in almost every area of life, I cannot truly say I have been faithful. I have disappointed myself repeatedly and failed to live up to my own standards time and time again. Isn’t that what most people mean by “faithful”? But what does the Louw-Nida lexicon in BibleWorks say about the Greek word for “faithful” (Greek, pistos)? “Trusting” or, “trustworthy”. Well those are two entirely different meanings aren’t they? If the Paul uses the word “faithful” in verse 1 to address people who are “trustworthy”–those who set the bar really high—again, I’m not sure if this letter is for people like me. But if Paul uses the word “faithful” in verse 1 to refer to people who are “trusting”, well then, that absolutely describes me. For the reason that it’s precisely because of the fact that I know I’m not “holy” and I know I’m not entirely “faithful” that I simply have to depend on Jesus altogether—I trust in Him, not in myself.
In that case, it would be good if we could determine how exactly Paul is using the word “faithful” here in Ephesians 1:1. We get a pretty big clue to what Paul means when we see the very next words, “in Christ Jesus”. That is, Paul is writing to people who were “faithful in Christ Jesus.” Paul uses that same phrase, “in Christ Jesus”, 46 times in his New Testament letters and seven times in Ephesians alone. (Just highlight the Greek phrase, en Xristw Iesus right-click on it and click “search for phrase”.) We can, it’s fair to say, learn what Paul means by the phrase by reading how he uses it elsewhere. Especially if he uses the phrase repeatedly in this same letter. And seven repetitions shows that for Paul, in Ephesians, this phrase is something of a theme!
The theme to note, in all the uses of the phrase “in Christ Jesus” throughout the book of Ephesians (actually all are in the first 3 chapters!) is that none of the occurrences put the focus on what we do for Jesus, but on what Jesus does for us. These seven uses of “in Christ Jesus” are almost like a list of benefits Christians obtain in and through Jesus Christ. Leaving the first occurrence for the moment, we read that 1) we are raised up and seated in the heavenly places, 2) shown kindness by God, 3) created, 4) brought near to Christ, His people and His promise (c.f. Eph 2:12), 5) partakers of the promise, and 6) glorifying God!
In light of how the phrase, “in Christ Jesus” is used in those 6 places in Ephesians 1-3, how odd would it be to interpret “faithful in Christ Jesus” in verse 1 as somehow describing people who have proven themselves dependable, worked really hard, or lasted to the end on their own effort! No, the words “faithful in Christ Jesus”, then, must mean either a) that these people have been made faithful by Christ Jesus, or b) that these people have had faith in Christ Jesus. Remember that one of the two meanings of the Greek word for “faithful” in Ephesians 1:1 is “trusting”. So it would be too much of a stretch then to argue that Paul is writing to a self-made, proven, tested, independently trustworthy people. Consider the context of three of those “in Christ Jesus” verses (2:6, 7 & 10):
…even when we were dead in our trespasses, [God] made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.(Ephesians 2:5-10 ESV)
As always, context is the best interpreter in trying to understand the Bible. And this context teaches us that Paul is not writing to people who had to prove themselves to God in order for Him to accept them, but to people who were dead (spiritually) but “made alive” and shown grace by God, without having earned anything and with no right to expect His favour; who were “by grace…saved through faith”, “not of [their] own doing” but as “the gift of God”, and “not as a result of works” of their own, but so that they might do “good works”.
Following the logic of Eph 2:5-10, therefore, it is very likely that when Paul talks about those who were “faithful in Christ Jesus” in Eph 1:1, his meaning should be understood as those who were “trusting in Christ Jesus”. That is the essence of faith in Ephesians: to trust in Christ Jesus. Because Eph 2:8 shows that all the benefits we Christians receive from Jesus are “not [our] own doing” but “the gift of God”. So in fact, we are Christians because of God’s gift—because of God’s grace.
Finally, we see that Paul, the writer, himself considers his own role as an apostle to be likewise the result of what Jesus Christ did for him:
“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God…” (Eph 1:1)
The BibleWorks master cross-reference list, gives Galatians 1:1 as a cross-check, which reads, “Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead…” This is no surprise for you if you know the story of Paul’s call to be an apostle, found in Acts 9. For at the same time Jesus Christ called Paul to be an apostle (lit. “a sent-out” missionary and representative of Jesus), Paul was also converted. Acts 9 is the account of Paul’s call and his conversion. The same is true, we find, for all Christians, through a careful study of Ephesians 1:1. We are converted not as a result of anything we do or decide, but “by the will of God” and through the work of Jesus Christ. And every benefit we receive through God’s rich grace, we receive “in Christ Jesus.” There is a call to obedience; there is a call here for Christians to be faithful and do good works (Eph 2:10). But this faithfulness is not the condition of our salvation and call; it is the result of our salvation and call. Doesn’t that take the pressure off?
Mike McKinley just posted this fine quote (below) regarding the importance of prayer in faithful preaching. Obviously the pastor who prays is not a wimp!
To preach the word, therefore, and not to follow it with constant and fervent prayer for its success, is to disbelieve its use, neglect its end, and to cast away the seed of the gospel at random.
— John Owen, Works, Vol 16, page 78
[Source:
http://feeds.9marks.org/~r/9marks/blog/~3/ix57PVj97Ow/preaching-and-prayer ]
In April of 2010 I was scheduled to attend the ReFocus Canada conference at Willingdon Church in Burnaby, BC, but then, when my relationship with the church board (at that time) began to deteriorate, I had to cancel. Afterward, a friend shared with me one of the more memorable events at the conference. I’m not sure I have the details correct, but as I recall the story, Pastor John Neufeld was quoted as saying, “Pray like a Calvinist, but preach like an Arminian.” To which, if I’m not mistaken, Dr. Bruce Ware (of Southern Baptist Seminary) replied with a gentle rebuke that one should never preach like an Arminian.
My friend and I had a good conversation about the exchange between those two respected men. He wanted to understand what exactly was being said by both. I know John Neufeld well enough to know what he likely intended to communicate by saying, “Preach like an Arminian”; I have read enough of Dr. Ware’s writings to know pretty much where he stands on Calvinism / Arminianism. Here’s what I think in a nutshell:
Both men would likely agree that one should pray like a Calvinist. This is to have a high confidence in the sovereign power of God–that He is not only able to do whatever He decides to do in answer to our prayers, but that He is unswervingly committed to His own glory and as Romans 8 assures us, has decreed that “all things work together for good for those who are called according to His purpose”. When “our good” is to see God glorified, since that is also God’s ultimate purpose, we can be certain of success. A true Calvinist believes this wholeheartedly because he knows that God created the world, decreed human history exactly as it has unfolded (even before Adam’s “fall”), and from eternity planned out the perfect redemption of all things through His Son, Jesus Christ, for the glory of the Triune God. So to pray like a Calvinist not only calls for confidence in God’s plan, purpose and power, but also for humility to conform our own thinking, hopes and desires to love God’s glory more than anything else. When we pray then for the salvation of a loved-one, or for anyone at all, we really praying for at least two things: 1) that God would save that person in spite of himself or herself, since everything about salvation depends on God and not on our loved-one; 2) that the salvation of our loved-one is part of God’s greater plan to glorify His name.
What about preaching like an Arminian? I think what John meant to say is not that one should abandon the truth of the above concerning a Calvinistic confidence in God’s plan, power and purpose, but that good preaching should call for a heart response in the hearer. This seems at first like an Arminian thing to do because one might (wrongly) assume that a Calvinist would take a sort of fatalistic approach to the salvation of individuals: “If God has chosen whom to save, and if He is sovereign, there’s nothing any of us can do about that except wait and see.” If this were an example of Calvinistic thinking, it would be inconsistent for such a preacher to invite a response to the preaching of the Gospel. Because in that case a human response would be futile since (again, in that case,) it would be entirely up to God to save people: why ask for unsaved people to respond to the Gospel if the responsibility is all up to God anyway?
Two of the five points of classical Arminianism include “Free will & human ability” and “Conditional election”. A classical Arminian therefore believes that unsaved people have the ability to choose to love God and believe the Gospel and that God’s election of whom to save is based upon His looking into the future and observing who will choose to love and believe. A classical Calvinist, on the other hand, believes that since the Fall there is no ability on the part of the unsaved person to love God or to believe the Gospel (in the sense of relying on Jesus, not merely agreeing to the facts), and that God’s election is based solely on His sovereign will and plan. (The two corresponding points of Calvinism are “Total depravity” and “Unconditional election”.)
Now both Bruce Ware and John Neufeld are Calvinists. Both, I think, would agree that every aspect of salvation depends ultimately on God alone. But both would also want every calvinistic preacher of the Gospel to call for a response of faith–of trust in Jesus, His righteousness, sacrifice and resurrection–in every hearer who longs to be saved. That’s probably, in my humble opinion, all that Pastor Neufeld was trying to say. And this is in no way inconsistent with being a Calvinist. Though this seems to me to be often ignored about Calvin’s teaching, true Calvinism holds that though salvation ultimately, in every part of the process, depends on God alone, the effect of God’s saving work in individuals is new-found love for Jesus as He is revealed in the Gospel, and trust in His work on the cross for forgiveness of sins. And true Calvinists also believe that the Gospel, proclaimed in good preaching, has the power, through the Holy Spirit, to make hearers fall in love with Jesus and trust Him. It’s like Jesus calling Lazarus to come out of his tomb. No one would give Lazarus any credit for obediently meeting Jesus halfway. The dead can’t hear, much less obey. But there is power in the Word of Christ to impart life, turn hearts, and raise the dead.
This topic has been on my mind since, when in Quebec last week, I read a blog post at the Gospel Coalition site, entitled “How to Call for a Gospel Response Like a Calvinist” by Eric McKiddie. Eric does a good job of showing that it is biblical for a Calvinist to preach this way. But as I read his fine article I could almost hear my Arminian friends arguing that though it might be biblical it is certainly not what most people mean by “Calvinism“. And though it’s true that many would not likely associate winsome, Gospel-invitation with Calvinism, it is also true that this is because those same people misunderstand classical Calvinism. John Calvin himself should be allowed to settle what true Calvinism is.
Calvin, in his Institutes of the Christian Religion wrote:
The true knowledge of Christ consists in receving him as he is offered by the Father, namely, as invested with his Gospel. For, as he is appointed as the end of our faith, so we cannot directly tend toward him except under the guidance of the Gospel. Therein are certainly unfolded to us treasures of grace…
There is an inseparable relation between faith and the word, and that these can no more be disconnected from each other than rays of light from the sun. Hence in Isaiah the Lord explains, “Hear, and your soul shall live” (Isa 55:3). And John points to this same fountain of faith in the following words, “These are written that ye might believe” (john 20:31)…
…The word itself, whatever be the way in which it is conveyed to us, is a kind of mirror in which faith beholds God. In this, therefore, whether God uses the agency of man (e.g., a preacher), or works immediately by his own power, it is always by his word that he manifests himself to those whom he designs to draw to himself. Hence Paul designates faith as the obedience which is given to the Gospel (Rom 1:5)… (Institutes 3.2.6)To those who are set as watchmen in the Church the Lord declares, “When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand” (Ezek. 3:18). What Paul says of himself is applicable to all pastors: “For though I preach the Gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me if I preach not the Gospel” (1 Cor. 4:16). In short, what the apostles did to the whole world, every pastor should do to the flock over which he is appointed. (Institutes 4.3.6)
…The grace of Jesus Christ… [is that] which the Lord is pleased to dispense by the word of the Gospel… That Christ is offered to us in the Gospel with all the abundance of heavenly blessings, with all his merits, all his righteousness, wisdom, and grace, without exception, Paul bears witness when he says, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he has made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him,” (2 Cor. 5:20, 21). (Institutes 3.5.5)
In the last two paragraphs quoted above, Calvin is clear in his understanding that a) preachers must preach the Gospel as a “warning…to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life” and b) they must do so as ambassadors called to “beseech” and beg unbelievers “be ye reconciled to God”. So you could say, according to what many people seem to mean when they talk about “Calvinism”, that John Calvin himself believed pastors should preach like Arminians: calling for repentance, calling for people to choose to be reconciled to God and believe the Gospel. But of course that is absurd. I think the misunderstanding rises from the fact that there are a lot of people who get hung up on the Calvin / Arminius debate who really don’t know what true Calvinism is–as defined by what Calvin himself actually taught. If Calvinists are to preach like Calvin, we must preach the Gospel aiming for a response of love for God, trust in Jesus, and faith in His promise to save.
Chateau Frontenac, Quebec City
I’m writing this from our luxurious suite at the Fairmont Chateau Frontenac in beautiful, old Quebec City, Quebec.
Heather and I are here, along with about 74 other Mennonite Brethren affiliated church planting couples from across Canada, and a handful of other connected people. The event is an all-expense paid retreat for church planters, put on by the C2C Network–the national counterpart to Church Planting BC, our British Columbian parent organization. Dan and Bev Rutherford, of Gateway Baptist Church (our home / parent church in Victoria for the duration of my church planting “apprenticeship”) are also here with us. And what a treat we are enjoying!
Our music for worship times is provided by BC’s own Brian Doerksen; the teaching by Jeff Vanderstelt of Soma Communities in Tacoma Washington. If what we have experienced so far of our 4 day stay here is any indication, we will be spending a lot of time on what feels like holy ground! And that’s appropriate: many of the couples attending here have endured significant suffering for the sake of the Gospel. What makes this holy ground is not so much the great Gospel-centred teaching (though Jeff is great) or the music (you do know who Brian Doerksen is don’t you?), but rather the privilege of worshipping alongside men and women who are giving their all for the sake of the name of Jesus in the resistant church planting soil of Canada’s cities. Did you know that 64% of Canadians now live in just a handful of major cities? These people know that and have intentionally moved to plant new churches in those cities–Quebec, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria, to name a few. This in spite of the high personal costs involved. I am moved by the honour of being counted in such company!
I don’t think I’m far off the mark in guessing that these people at this retreat represent about 75 new churches recently planted, being planted, or about to be planted in Canadian urban centres. And, true to C2C’s core values, these are designed to be Gospel-centred, Spirit-led, Mission-focused churches. Not your garden-variety Christian country clubs. On the plane coming to Quebec City, I had the chance to visit briefly with one of the members of Canada’s next Olympic Team for the London games in 2012. He and his partner just qualified by winning gold in the Pan-American Games in Mexico. That’s where he was returning from on the Air Canada flight we shared. During our conversation he acknowledged that Christianity–the Catholic Church in particular–had done a great deal of harm throughout history. So I told him, in a nutshell, about what the C2C Network is trying to do: to do good in the midst of Canada’s cities by establishing Christian communities where people can find acceptance, belonging, and healing through being reconciled to God, through Jesus Christ, and to each other. He said he thought that sounded pretty good. I think that this is a goal worth striving for, fighting for, sacrificing for. Though I am certainly no athlete, I’m pretty sure a gold medal cannot properly communicate what the athlete pays in countless ways to achieve it. That’s not how it will be one day when the King of kings gives His reward!
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that Day, and not only to me but also to all who have loved his appearing. (2 Timothy 4:7-8 ESV)
Tonight we prayed en masse for the cities of Quebec, including for Quebec City itself. One of the pastors, in his testimony, compared his love for his city, Montreal, to the love a man has for a woman. These people are emotional about the cities they dream of reaching with the Gospel. I know Jesus is infinitely more emotional about the cities He has sent people like this to reach with the life-giving, transformative message of His life, death, resurrection and soon return. And I guess the question that keeps coming to mind is this: why did it take me so long to commit myself to such a worthy goal? Moreover, why are there only approximately 75 new churches represented here? What kind of impact would 750 new Canadian, Gospel-centred, Spirit-led, Mission-focused churches have on our cities? What about 7500? What about 75,000?
(Do you share a love for Canadian cities? Consider making a donation.)
So when the devil throws your sins in your face and declares that you deserve death and hell, tell him this: “I admit that I deserve death and hell, what of it? For I know One who suffered and made satisfaction on my behalf. His name is Jesus Christ, Son of God, and where he is there I shall be also!”
— Martin Luther
I read the above quote on a blog post by Matthew Barrett, titled “Abandon the Reformation, Abandon the Gospel”, at the Gospel Coalition site. He gives a short overview of Luther’s discovery of the Gospel and the early events of the Reformation, and why the battle for the Gospel is no less relevant today. Read Dr. Barrett’s post here.
Technorati Tags: Luther, The Gospel, The Reformation, Matthew Barrett
It’s one of the more surprising questions people ask me from time to time, upon learning that I am a church planter & pastor, and especially upon hearing that I put a high value on local church membership: “Is church membership really necessary? Is it even biblical?” The answer is “yes” and “yes.” But it’s not an easy point to communicate because of the high emotion that often surrounds the issue for people.
I saw this related blog entry this evening at the 9 Marks Blog and wanted to share it here. And since they said to go right ahead, here you go!
Membership, Discipline, and Love
By Marcus Glover
| 10.24.2011
Get it from my Amazon store!
Earlier this year, Jonathan Leeman preached two sermons at Guilford Baptist Church (Sterling, Virginia) in which he set forth a biblical vision for membership and discipline in the local church. Both of these sermons are now available for download here at 9Marks.org. If you are wondering why membership and discipline are key components of a healthy church, we encourage you to listen to these sermons.
Church Membership and Love [DOWNLOAD]
Church Discipline and Love [DOWNLOAD]
Check out these sermons and pass them along to others who my benefit from them. We hope and pray that these resources will be useful for you as you seek to cultivate meaningful membership in your church.
Related Resources:
Book: The Church and the Surpising Offense of God’s Love by Jonathan Leeman
Video: A Biblical Understanding of Church Membership
Video: A Biblical Understanding of Church Discipline
[SOURCE]
I found the following information very interesting. It comes from a page titled “The global population will reach 7 billion this month; here are 7 things you didn’t know” (see below for source link). It’s true, the global population is expected to hit 7 billion people on October 31. And these are some facts you might not know:
