Cincinnati Sovereign Grace Project

Update on Directory

2009-06-16T12:28:00.002-04:00

For whatever reason the number of participants are very, very low who are interested in the sovereign grace directory. Out of the 40 or so e-mails I sent out I got back 6 positive responses. I even tried to delete this blog and forget the whole thing, which I did about a month ago and as I was updating another blog of mine I saw the option to restore it. If it still does not stir interest in the next few months I will just change the blog for a different use.

What I think needs to be done is subcategories of local groups need to be formed maybe based on denomination or association. Have some people volunteer to head up their type of group and list other churches and groups in the area who fall under that same heading.

You can reach me by e-mail at gospeldefense@gmail.com
If you want my cell phone number send me an e-mail and I will give it.

Scott Price
6-16-09

Calling All Greater Cincinnati Sovereign Grace Churches

2008-09-30T21:25:00.003-04:00

Scott Price

Some 14 years ago I edited a publication called the "Sovereign Grace Directory". It lasted for 5 editions. It was a world-wide directory of Sovereign Grace, Calvinists and Reformed who held to the doctrines of free and sovereign grace (the "5 points or T-U-L-I-P."). These groups had tapes, books, newsletters, videos, or any other form of media for distribution. Many people ended up using the directory for when they traveled so as to have a place to attend church. The response was overwhelmingly positive. It became too hard to maintain because of the constant changes to the hard copy and was somewhat expensive to copy and mail out. Eventually I got on to the Internet and saw the method I was using was not as effective as an electronic version would be.

What is the plan now?
The plan is to start it again but do it locally with the Greater Cincinnati area first, then spread out, to list those within about a one hour drive from downtown Cincinnati. It will be in the form of this blog to start out with so groups could leave their contact info as a blog comment or e-mail me and I would start to compile the list. The plan later was to have a few meetings and then conferences to deal with current issues in reference to sovereign grace.

There is also the purpose of meeting new people who believe these truths and networking with those interested. Those who are new to sovereign grace and need help in finding resorce material or to stand without compromise as they are having problems preaching to an Arminian congregation who may be resistant to the truth, etc.

The Spread of Sovereign Grace?
From what I have been reading on the theological landscape among Evangelicals the truths of Sovereign Grace and or Calvinism are gaining attention in our day and becoming a little more popular now as opposed to the last few decades. I want our church and churches like ours to be there to aid folks in teaching these doctrines, not as doctrinal play-toys, but show the Christ-centered importance and the implications of what is heard, believed, promoted, and loved.

So I thought to build a network down in the Southwestern corner of Ohio and the surrounding areas (Kentucky and Indiana) and fill in the gaps. I cannot do this by myself. Please help! I need volunteers to get this thing up and running, perhaps a steering committee. Any ideas please feel free to contact me so we can move on this. I have many ideas that are not outlined here.

More on this later.

In the meantime any group or pastor who holds to these doctrines of Sovereign Grace and is in the Greater Cincinnati area please contact me with your info and any other ideas you may have. Even if you can give me some names I can do the initial contacting. You may also leave ideas as comments on this blog for others to see.

Thanks for your help in advance.

Scott Price
E-mail - GospelDefense@gmail.com
Websites - www.SermonAudio/GospelofGrace and www.GospelDefense.com

Unity Among Sovereign Grace Gospel Churches

2008-09-30T21:23:00.002-04:00

Scott Price

"Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful to write unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered to the saints." Jude 3

Is there such thing as too much unity? How little is not enough? Of course I am referring to unity in the gospel. Let's examine the question of whether or not people in local churches should be in unity with anyone else outside their local church they attend. What are we responsible for? How much should we be concerned about other people or churches that believe the very same gospel and worship the very same Christ that we do? In other words those who have a "common salvation", or a salvation just like ours.

Most who have read my articles for any length of time know I am not merely talking about someone who makes claims to be religious, who prays, and goes to church, or say they believe in God or Jesus. Who doesn't say they believe that who claims to be "Christian"? I'm not talking about compromise with false religion. I am talking about the folks who believe the only true God and His gospel of free and sovereign grace of God in Christ, which excludes works of the sinner. A gospel that records how Christ accomplished an effectual blood atonement for the loved and chosen people of God and meriting for them a righteousness that will be imputed to their account, being the ground of their justification. A gospel that has a complete, full, and finished satisfaction that was rendered by Christ to Law and justice, which God the Father demanded and exposes all other "gospels" to be false.
People who believe the truth of pure grace are very few and far between. This is true in Scripture according to Matthew 7:13-14 as well as true to our own experience.

Should there be any effort to communicate to anyone outside the local church body who believes like us? Should we fellowship with them during special meetings and conferences? Should we listen to their tapes, read their literature, or visit their web sites? Should we attempt to network at all with them?

Let me first say loud and clear that there is not even enough of this done within our own local church with the ones we worship with every week. I am afraid this is the case in many gospel churches. I have been to churches where people assemble at the last minute and run out the door as soon as the message is over. Do they not enjoy fellowshipping with the people of God? Hebrews 10:24-25 says; "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and good works: not forsaking the assembly of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much more as we see the day approaching." Notice the exhortation to do this increasingly and progressively as time goes on.

Many people scattered all over the world who are believers do not have a church body within comfortable driving distance to attend. I have heard of people driving 4 to 6 hours to worship and fellowship in the gospel. There are many small groups of believers all over the place meeting together without any pastor and they listen to tapes and have Bible studies with each other. Are we concerned about them? Are we concerned with churches that find themselves without leadership because the teacher/preacher has died or moved on? Are we concerned with people in other congregations, besides ours, who are sick? Should we refer a friend or relative to a church in their area that you know preaches the gospel?

Let us not be like the Roman Catholic Church in the Dark Ages, before the invention of the printing press, how they kept the Scriptures hidden from the common man. Those who believe the same gospel we do should dominate every media outlet available to make use of the means to get the gospel out. If you can write then write. Have you ever visited your local "Christian Bookstore"? Mostly garbage is there! If you know how to build a web site, build one. If your local newspaper allows articles to be written in it, then write them. God uses means! We say it but do we believe it?

The bottom line is that we should be in constant action in confirming, promoting, publishing, proclaiming, and defending the gospel of grace. We are to use any God-honoring means available to get this job done. There is no excuse not to be actively doing this as much as possible, not only locally but also as far and wide as we can. We should all be going extremely out of our way to do this. Start now if you have not yet.

The glory of God should be our primary motivation, next is the salvation of sinners and edification of God's elect. Get to know the members of your church better and meet their needs, then join with them and reach out to others outside your church. You may not ever know how much your effort and care is appreciated by others. My prayer is that God would give us zeal and boldness and that He send us revival that would turn the world upside down. People of God, unite today on the basis of the gospel of Christ.

Because They All Should Think Alike
"But I exhort you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" 1Cor 1:10

Are the hot issues in the local gospel church the Presidential pick, a favorite sports team, make and model of our cars, favorite type of music or movie, or what style of clothing you wear? I hope not! If this were the case there would be much division because there is so much diversity in opinion based on the subjective experience concerning personal preferences, which is all relative and constantly changing.

The Scripture speaks of the liberty we have as God's children to have individual likes and dislikes when it comes to many things in the world we live in. We are not so legalistic that we cannot talk to each other about our styles, tastes and opinions, but this must not take priority and it must be done with care. Of course the Bible puts certain commands in place to regulate how we are to think on these matters (Rom 14 and other places). It would be a very disappointing shame for the church to be split into various cliques and clubs based on tastes and styles. Bottom line is that people are different with different personalities, likes and dislikes.

Where the church is to think the same is in doctrine, in the gospel of grace. They all have the same Savior, the same Father and same Spirit. All God's people are on the same level playing ground to their God based on the merits of another; The Lord their Righteousness, Christ Himself. As they hear doctrine that comes in the church they use their mind to see if they recognize the truth of it as it funnels and filters through the gospel of grace. The gospel of Christ is our kindred link that we fellowship in and have our bond. This is evidenced mainly by our attendance and willful involvement in the church, which includes many things that are developed as ways and means to give ourselves over to the honor and glory our Lord in the church.

Those in the church must do all these things in love and by faith. Nothing is to be done if not done in love and the same goes for faith. Whatever is not in love is vain and whatever is not of faith is sin. God's people in the church are to build each other up (edify) not tear down. They are to help not hurt. They are to show compassion not harshness. They are to bear one another's burdens and pray for one another. They are to encourage the people of God with all the positive language of Scripture, the language of victory in Christ and the benefits of all spiritual blessings that are found in Him as their Head.

The fellowship of the church in the gospel takes work because all the members are sinners saved by grace. There is still the potential to think ill thoughts, be selfish, be covetous, say hurtful things, show respect of persons (favoritism), be jealous, feel the need for vengeance, be bias, be suspicious, be prejudice, become cold, show disrespect, etc. These things are still very real and at work in the warfare of our daily experience as non-gospel influences press us in competition for the priority-spot in our lives.

Satan is at work to defeat God's people and disrupt the church of God. We are exhorted to have "the same mind and in the same judgment”, which basically means we are to think of who we are in relation to are Lord and we are to have His mind, a mind of humility (Phil 2). God's church is exhorted to simply think alike about Him, the truth, and about each other. By the gospel of grace our thoughts should be brought into conformity to His thoughts and our ways to His ways.

Call it What You Will, But We Need It!
"For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ...." II Corinthians 10:4-5 (The MKJV)

Many are reminded of the historic event know as the "Reformation". October 31st is not only popular for the Halloween holiday but for Reformation Day too. Some profitable writings came out of the time period known as the Reformation that was greatly used of God. I do not want to fight over words or terms with anyone reading this, but want to stress a basic and simple point that I would hope all who know the Lord would agree.

Are you ready?:
We ourselves are not what we should be. Our churches are not what they should be. We are weaker than we should be. We have far too much unbelief. Our character and conduct are in need of improvement. We have many hindrances that should and could be removed. We do not pray as we should. We do not evangelize as we should. We definitely do not love as we should. We do not serve as we should. We do not give as we should. We do not read God's word as we should. We need growth. We do not resist sin enough. We often are lazy and irresponsible. In many things we need to change our minds and we need our minds changed. Many adjustments could and should be made. We need our inconsistencies fixed. We could go on and on about this but I hope you would agree that most of this, if we are honest, see there is a need to make adjustments in many areas.

What am I getting at? We need help. We need help from the Lord by His grace. We need and want what some would call Reformation. Others would call it Revival. Some would call it Renewal or improvement under some other name. This is not some turning over a new leaf or New Year's resolution. Many sovereign grace folks are so afraid to talk about a desire of getting these problems fixed or improved that they fear being thought of as sounding Arminian or humanistic. Some folks think if anything involves effort it is of works (self-righteous works). Why have many fallen for this satanic deception? They have been softly rocked to sleep, giving themselves excuses to do nothing for fear of being looked at as a works-religionist. Pretty stupid huh? Yes it is.

If you think both you and the church you attend are fine just the way you are and need no improvement, I guess this article is not for you. For those of you who realize you need a lot of help let me encourage you to continually look to Christ, our Savior and Advocate and ask for grace to do what He commands us to do in all things for the advancement of His kingdom and glory. I pray God will send a strong dose of His help by way of His Spirit to show His glory magnified in us in His true churches throughout the world. Not sure what you call it, but we desperately need it now.

Satan, The Great Distraction Expert
"For I determined not to know any thing among you, except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified" (I Cor 2:2)

Satan has a easy job in the false church simply because the truth of the gospel is not there. His goal is to weasel into grace churches that believe God's gospel. The first step seems to be his power to distract. Folks get distracted for the proper direction pretty easily. This is why the word of God is filled with numerous warnings. If everything were smooth sailing all the time in this walk and life of faith then these warnings would be useless. I Peter 5:8 warns; "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about, seeking whom he may devour."

His power is to deceive and distract. It is to attempt to keep our eyes off of the Lord Jesus Christ the author and finisher of our faith. The facets of this distracting power are many such as mysticism, politics, rules and commandments of men, humanistic philosophy, denominationalism, liturgy, customs, tradition, church government, eschatology, music preferences, legalism, or debates and divisions over any secondary issues not pertaining to the gospel. These are just a few things that Satan uses to divide believers who once fellowshipped in the gospel side by side for years. This is grieving to the Spirit of God when His people allow this to happen. The Lord mentions some things He hates that include "he that sows discord among brethren" Proverbs 6:19b.

Let us get our priorities straight, look to Christ, love and serve one another in the church of God and He will bless the ministry of the gospel. Anything less than this Satan will be laughing at the foolish actions of God's people as they are not on watch for the enemy's crafty ways. May God grant us mercy and the strength to resist the Devil in these evil days of distraction.

The State of Most So-called "Sovereign Grace" Churches in the World
I wish I had a dollar for every time someone has said that the sovereignty of God in election or predestination was advanced doctrine and theology only for the mature believer and should never be preached to unbelievers. The fear was that they would be scared off by hearing it, so they think the trick is to apologize for five minutes before they make a statement about God being sovereign. Some do this while making excuses for their Arminian friends or famous Arminian preachers for rejecting these truths. They say their "heart" is right but they are mixed up in the head. They may say Arminians are like Calvinists when they are on their knees praying. They sometime say the Arminian makes up in their "godly life" where they fail in doctrinal shortcomings.

Compromising preachers will say anything to avoid the offense of the cross. Many paid "pastors" are afraid to stand for the truth because the remaining freewillers in their congregation will stop contributing funds or stop attending altogether. Wow, the freewillers have been there for 10, 20, or 30 years and still are there... what does that tell you about the message that is being preached in that church? That preacher is walking the tight rope well. They may reserve a little sovereign grace teaching once a year in the early adult Sunday school class in the doctrinal refresher course. Most of these type groups say they are sovereign grace on paper, but they stop short in the pulpit. They act as if it is like a mask they can take on and off depending on who is listening....... Hey! That is exactly what it is, a mask of hypocrisy to be more accurate.

These groups are easy to spot when it comes to who they support, who they fellowship with, who they will let in the pulpit, and the literature on the table or tract rack. This world is full of these type fake-grace churches. Beware of them to distinguish the difference between them and true ministries of God's gospel.

The Gospel Driven Sovereign Grace Church

2008-09-25T21:06:00.005-04:00

Scott Price

The word of God tell us a tremendous amount about the gospel. This gospel is the message of how God glorifies Himself in the salvation of ungodly sinners by the life and death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is so important that God even uses the gospel message as a means in salvation. So much can be said about the gospel that the words used cannot be exhausted in this short life. This is because of the God described out in this gospel has no end to the splendor and glory that is in Him.

There are many best selling religious books that may be better suited for propping up one end of a couch when one of the legs breaks off. A couple of these number one selling books are titled, "Purpose Driven Church" and "Purpose Driven Life". They are written by the world-famous Arminian preacher, Rick Warren, who pastors a "mega-church".

Yes, God does have a purpose, a glorious one to say the least. But, the purpose of God is in Christ Jesus and spelled out clearly in His glorious gospel of grace. This gospel dictates all that we say and do about spiritual things. It fences our words and actions, our methods and motives. The Spirit of God gives us spiritual life through the means of this gospel and that is only the beginning in our experience in the power of the gospel message. The Holy Spirit takes this gospel and uses it as our guidance manual in this New Covenant experience as we live by faith.

What should our motives be as we do the good works that God has foreordained? Gospel motives, of course. How should we forgive others who have wronged us? The gospel is a living instruction on that. How should we view a marriage between a man and woman? The gospel of Christ and His bride is the best lesson there too. How do we see all the Old Testament stories in the Bible and interpret them? Again, the gospel of Christ is the answer. God's churches are Gospel Driven churches. It must be the central, preeminent message!

As we mingle and fellowship with God's people are we allowed to speak of our children, our hobbies, our jobs or the current events going on in the world? Of course we have that liberty and many of those things are part of what defines us as we pass quickly through this evil world, but our preeminent focus in fellowship is driven by the gospel (Phil 1:5).

Our real and eternal identity that matters in this life, which actually places real value to us, is our life in Christ. Does this mean we cannot enjoy other things in this life or have a sense of humor? Of course not, but that very idea is one of Legalism's trademarks, putting folks in bondage and sometimes actually driving some people mentally insane.

Just because the gospel is the central, preeminent message in God's word are we to neglect all other doctrines that are contained in the word of God? Of course not. We are to funnel our attention through the filter of the gospel of the grace of God in Christ, comparing Scripture with Scripture. If God's gospel does not drive the church the church will die, and rightly so. My sincere prayer is that all churches that are not driven by the only true gospel do die and die quickly, if the Lord wills.

Always Driven by Grace Alone
"For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them" Ephesians 2:10

God's people are not to be motivated by mercenary reasons. A mercenary is one who fights for a paycheck, often for a country that is not his own. The people of God do not fight the good fight of out of legalism, love of money, glory of the flesh, fame, reputation, reward, merit, guilt or fear. If this ever happens in a gospel church it may be attributed to poor teaching, bad hearing, or may be proof of the hearer not being converted. All the above-mentioned motives are wicked and evil “dead works”. They are to be constantly exposed as such.

On the other hand if good teaching is in place that clearly, boldly and repetitively declares that a person who holds to the gospel of grace should be believing that the Person and work of Christ alone is the only ground of our justification and acceptance before a holy God. Their motives are all done by God-given faith and are fueled by grace, love, gratitude, thankfulness, and joy. If people who claim to believe the Christ of that message do not work or act in faith by love then this too may be evidence of their non-regeneration. God has paid a precious price to insure that the foreordained decree of blessings He purchased through His Son to be worked in His people through His Spirit. God is said to be the One who is the working in us both to will and do of His good pleasure. If grace will not drive God's people then we should be convinced that Law will certainly not either.

Why then is false religion so excited and motivated about their work for "god" and do things with such fervor and zeal? They often times work circles around the people of God. God's preachers are not to be so discouraged as to change the message to cause an effect in people to get something done. God is big enough to work in people and get things done. The preacher must remain faithful to the Lord and His message of grace being patient with the weak and frail.
The justified sinner has no room for boasting before, during or even after his salvation in anything ever done by faith through love. If these proper gospel motives are constantly put in place in the practical exhortations of their preaching and teaching and nothing in the form of positive action happens, then God will use another one of His sheep to get the task at hand accomplished. It is a blessing to be used of God in His kingdom. It is a blessing to see His gospel go out, His Kingdom expand, His sheep grow in grace and His church thrive by grace. May God grant His people the eyes to see what is really important in this short life.

The Whole Church is the Ministry

2008-09-25T21:04:00.001-04:00

Scott Price

"For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love, which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister. And we desire that everyone of you do show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope unto the end." Hebrews 6:10-11

Every person that God graciously calls and justifies is put into the ministry in some way or another. The word "ministry" or "minister" simply means to serve, be a servant, aid, and assist. This is done in the context of the duties that are related to the confirmation, defense, promotion, and furtherance of the gospel of grace. The labor and work of the individual members of the church body is not any less important than anyone else in the body. There is only one exception to that; Christ is the Head of the church. He is the Chief Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. He is preeminent so much so that He must increase and we must decrease in every sense of the word.

God has given elders, bishops and pastors to equip the body of Christ, by teaching and preaching the ministry of reconciliation (II Cor 5:19-20, Eph 4:11-12). As the body is built up or edified, they in turn will minister to each other and also even others outside the body. If they have been taught correctly by the leadership of the church the whole body will be ministering. Some examples may be by evangelizing (by preaching or distributing literature or tapes to the lost outside the church body), praying, singing, exhorting, counseling, etc.

Years ago I once heard a man preach a very good gospel message and immediately after the message an older gentlemen ask him, "Where do you minister." (because he was from another part of the country). The man that preached pointed to his pastor who was also at this meeting and said, "He is the minister." These are divisive ideas passed down in ignorance through a history of bad teaching in the church about the church. The body of Christ must be built up not tore down. Everyone that is converted by God's grace is in the ministry.

What about the prayer that was offered up by many in the body for the speaker and the hearer before the message was delivered? What about the planting that was done to the hearers before they heard the gospel again? All the body ministers. If they do not ALL minister then the body is sick or weak and needs immediate attention.

Who is to Preach?

Many people claim that only a person that is "called" to preach has the authority or ability to do so, and in saying this most fail to back this up with Scripture. Many think one must be a pastor, elder, or bishop to preach (some add deacon to the list). Some think a preacher should have a seminary college degree in order to preach. This list goes on in the religious mind concerning what a preacher must be or have before they can preach. Let us look at a few simple things about preaching and preachers.

First, what does the word preach mean? In the Bible there are a few Greek words that are translated to the English word preach. They mean to herald, proclaim, declare, publish, or announce good news. The specific good news the Bible speaks of in relation to preaching is the message of how God, by grace alone, saves ungodly sinners by the righteousness established for them in the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ alone, without any contribution on the part of the sinner. In other words, the message to be preached is called the gospel (that specific message). A person who preaches the gospel would obviously be considered a preacher.

In the context of a local church setting any male who is able to clearly communicate the gospel and is allowed to by the leadership of the church, can and should preach. This person can rightfully be considered a preacher or minister. This might include those that are not elders, pastors, bishops, or deacons. This would not include women in the assembly of the church meeting because of the following texts (I Cor 4:34-35 & I Tim 2:11-12). Are women to preach outside the public meeting of the church? Of course, if they are serious about obeying their Lord concerning evangelism (“witnessing” the gospel to people).

Outside the context of a local church meeting, any and all of God's people are to preach (evangelize) and teach anyone that God brings into their path and gives them opportunity to minister to. In this sense ALL His people are preachers and ALL are part of the ministry as an extension of the church membership in action. If the members do not have this ability then they have not been properly equipt by the church and need immediate attention.

Should Preachers Be Called Reverend?

"He sent redemption unto His people: He hath commanded His covenant forever: Holy and Reverend is His name." Psalm 111:9

Many men and even women would have us believe they are above all other people when it comes to their perceived position in the kingdom of God. They take on the title "Reverend" and claim they are "men of the cloth" or "clergy". They want us to believe the people in the pews are mere "laity" or "lay persons". Many of these men who think so highly of themselves are merely approved by the State but not God approved.

The LORD Jesus Christ has put all the members of His church on all one level: JUSTIFIED by the imputed righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. No one person or group of people are any better than the others when it comes to Christ and His church. All God's people are ministers of the gospel and are encouraged to edify one another. All the members of the body are said to have a gift or gifts and are encouraged to exercise them in the ministry of the gospel.

God is the ONLY one that should be considered REVEREND. There are many Protestant and Baptist POPES running around thinking more of themselves than they ought to. Many "Pastors" would be better off if the would spend time pastoring (verb) rather than boasting in the title. Some have "their people" bound by a bunch of non-biblical ecclesiastical nonsense.

Imputation, both of sin and of righteousness, is the great leveler. We who are saved by God's grace have the very righteousness of the Lord imputed to our account and are blessed based on Christ alone. All of God's people worship and reverence Him and are taught by God that man at his best is altogether vanity. The Bible warns us to beware of false prophets who desire the preeminence among men and who would seek to steal reverence from God for themselves. Thank God for the Chief Shepherd who looks after His sheep and warns them of such blasphemers!

A One Man Show?

Many churches today, even those who claim to be sovereign grace, Calvinistic, or Reformed in the doctrine of salvation take a "One Man Show" approach to the doctrine of the church. I have visited churches over past 25 years that if you shut your eyes and just listen you would think there was one guy in a big room talking to himself. The most extreme case was a Wednesday evening this pastor gave the announcements, led the singing, said all the prayers that night (4 separate prayers) and preached. He did it all and it stood out like a sore thumb!

Churches that have been established where pastors have laid the groundwork in doctrine and have really fed the congregation greatly for a consistent amount of time should encourage those in the congregation to begin to take action. That action is in the form of exercising their spiritual gifts that the Lord has given them. The congregation is NOT to sit on their hands, but rather they all are to be active in some capacity. Christ is the Head and the rest of the body, individually, is to be at work, edifying members of the body, collectively, as a whole. This is part of the growing process, both as individuals and as a church body.

Is there a mistrust among some who call themselves pastors that God's church cannot take care of His people? Do these pastors have a mistrust of whether or not the Spirit of God is actually dwelling in and working in God's people both to will and do of His good pleasure? Are some of these guys just egomaniacs to the point that they crave all the attention? Are they afraid to take questions or be challenged? Are they maintaining a certain reputation of flawless stardom? Are they thinking too highly of themselves? Do they run “THEIR” church like a business? These are questions that many times have obvious answers.

As I pastor the flock in which God has given me to oversee I do NOT want to be accused of Lording over them in any way whether it is being over-authoritative, twisting their arms for money, stealing the spotlight from Christ the Head of the church, dampening or silencing their gifts, not listening to their concerns, etc.

Many "Pastors" today really think they are the Head of the church. This is the root of the problem and the stem flows to blossom do not have a sweet smelling savor to the true Head at all. The One Man Show is the God-Man's and all those under Him should be active participants. He is the true Reverend, the Good Shepherd, and the Bishop of our souls.

Using Sovereignty As An Excuse

2008-09-25T21:01:00.002-04:00

Scott Price

Many who call themselves Calvinists, sovereign grace, or Reformed often will become lazy and talk like it is okay because God is sovereign and will "take care of things". Oh yes, God will definitely take of things alright but that is no excuse to be lazy, irresponsible, and fatalistic. Lazy and zealous are opposites. The Scripture says that God's people are zealous of good works, "Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works" (Titus 2:14). We are "His workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works" (Eph 2:10). Many are lax in evangelism saying that if they do not preach then God will use someone else. Absolutely right He will use somebody else!

God uses means to an end. Whatever He purposes in eternity He brings to pass and there are means involved. Worship God and honor His Son or get out of the way. Do not talk sovereignty with your lips and end it there. Do ya trust Him? Then carry out His work of the gospel ministry as a servant, pray without ceasing, worship the Lord by giving, and be real about it all. You may say it sounds like I am trying to get someone to earn, merit, or gain something? Are you a fool? Those who have experienced grace are grateful, thankful and they serve out of love for Christ. They know they are not meriting anything but rather it is their reasonable service.

If you use God's sovereignty for an excuse to be lazy it indeed was predestinated but it is still sin. You can fool some people but not God. He has other attributes besides sovereignty and one is omniscience. He knows. Think on it.

He is Right

2006-11-28T22:05:00.001-05:00

Scott Price

As God's people mature in this life of faith they gradually become less concerned with their own honor, their name, their reputation, etc. People in religion are always interested in THEM being right on a subject. This mind-set lends to the idea that the person is getting some sort of credit for being correct (as if the person created the truth or at least "discovered" the truth). God is the God of truth. Christ Himself said He is TRUTH! When we see, understand, believe, and defend the truth we are merely agreeing with Christ as He reveals His gospel to our minds. We get no credit. Their is not discovery on owr part. It is all of grace by revelation and God-given faith. We, of course, did NOT improve the truth somehow by believing it or defending it. God is always out front leading the way in the area of truth and we are following His lead. We are "Johnny come lately" not the fountian source of eternal truth. The prideful attitude of being puffed up stinks to heaven. We need more truth and more love of it. I pray the Lord sends it to us.

The Offense of The Cross

2006-10-26T19:38:00.001-04:00

J.C. Philpot

You may take away almost anything from a man but his religion. To pronounce his faith a delusion, his hope a falsehood, and his love a lie; to sift his profession till nothing is left but presumption or hypocrisy; to withstand his false confidence, and declare it to be worse than the faith of devils; to analyze his religion, beginning, middle, and end, as thoroughly and unreservedly as a chemist analyses a case of suspected poisoning, and declare the whole rotten, root and branch - can this be done without giving deadly offence?

Why Doctrinal Preaching Declines

2006-08-27T16:30:00.001-04:00

Arthur W. Pink

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15

"For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." 2Timothy.4:3-4.

During the last two or three generations the pulpit has given less and less prominence to doctrinal preaching, until today, with very rare exceptions, it has no place at all. In some quarters the cry from the pew was, 'we want living experience and not dry doctrine'; in others, 'we need practical sermons and not metaphysical dogmas'; and yet others, Give us Christ and not theology. Sad to say, such senseless cries were generally heeded: 'senseless' we say, for there is no other safe way of testing experience, as there is no foundation for practicals to be built upon if they be divorced from Scriptural doctrine; while Christ cannot be known unless he be preached (1Cor.1:23), and he certainly cannot be 'preached' if doctrine is shelved. Various reasons may be given for the lamentable failure of the pulpit, chief among them being laziness, desire for popularity, superficial and lop-sided evangelism, and love of the sensational'.

Laziness. It is a far more exacting task, one which calls for much closer confinement in the study, to prepare a series of sermons on, say the doctrine of justification, than it does to make addresses on prayer, missions, or personal-work. It demands a far wider acquaintance with the Scriptures, a more rigid disciplining of the mind, and a more extensive perusal of the older writers. But this was too exacting for most of the ministers, and so they chose the line of least resistance and followed an easier course. It is because of his proneness to this weakness that the minister is particularly exhorted, 'Give attendance to reading ... take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine: continue in them' (1Tim.4:13,16); and again, 'Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, (2Tim.2: 15).

Desire for popularity. It is natural that the preacher should wish to please his hearers, but it is spiritual for him to desire and aim at the approbation of God. Nor can any man serve two masters. As the apostle expressly declared, 'For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ' (Gal.1:10): solemn words are those! How they condemn them whose chief aim is to preach to crowded churches! Yet what grace it requires to swim against the tide of public opinion, and preach that which is unacceptable to the natural man. But on the other hand, how fearful will be the doom of those who, from a determination to curry favour with men, deliberately withheld those portions of the truth most needed by their hearers. 'Ye shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it' (Deut.4:2). Oh to be able to say with Paul, 'I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you ... I am pure from the blood of all' (Acts.20:20, 26).

A superficial and lop-sided 'evangelism'. Many of the pulpiteers of the past fifty years acted as though the first and last object of their calling was the salvation of souls, everything being made to bend to that aim. In consequence, the feeding of the sheep, the maintaining of a Scriptural discipline in the church, and the inculcation of practical piety, was crowded out; and only too often all sorts of worldly devices and fleshly methods were employed under the plea that the end justified the means; and thus the churches were filled with unregenerate members. In reality, such men defeated their own aim. The hard heart must be ploughed and harrowed before it can be receptive to the gospel seed. Doctrinal instruction must be given on the character of God, the requirements of his Law, the nature and heinousness of sin, if a foundation is to be laid for true evangelism. It is useless to preach Christ unto souls until they see and feel their desperate need of him.

December 1939

Excert from The Life of Arthur W. Pink, by Ian H. Murray, Banner of Truth, Edinburgh, 1981, pp217-8

A Ministry of Questions (for local newspaper)

2006-08-17T21:08:00.001-04:00

Scott Price

Most people today seem very uninterested in thinking. They crack jokes about hurting their brain from thinking. If you ask them in a generic greeting, "What do ya know", they reply, "Nothing, it gets me in trouble" as if thinking, knowing, and learning were something bad. Year after year attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Scholars, to some people, are looked upon as nerds or losers. Some people keep the TV on at home even when they are not watching it for what they call "back ground noise". What has happened to the mind of the average American, has it expanded or has it become used to being unchallenged, unopened, and willfully ignorant of the knowledge of the most important things?

A few years ago I bought an old work car and did not have a stereo in it for well over a year. A friend of mine asked how I could stand the silence in the car day in and day out. I used the time in the car for thinking, even prayer. Now before we go on we need to clarify that, yes, you can pray with your eyes open. It can be done and it is acceptable. Did some of you religious people think God only hears prayers of people with their eyes tightly shut, their hands neatly folded, and that you must be on your knees? If this is the case then what does the Bible mean when it tells God's people to, "Pray without ceasing"? Oh, a question to cause thought. See, now we are getting somewhere.

The gospel ministry is one of causing people to think or to consider things by questions that confront them. Not questions about things that are not related to the gospel but Christ-centered, Gospel-centered, Truth-centered questions that quickly get to the heart of the matter. The main problem today with most religions is they think they have the answers and they simply do not even know the right questions. The gospel ministry should be one of posing vital questions and answering them for the people you are preaching to. We must raise the important questions that nobody else in the religious world is asking. Then as we seek to graciously help people we give a clear explained gospel answer to the question, based on God's word.

Think just in one aspect of this for a minute: Definitions. When we ask ourselves to define a word we are simply asking the question, 'what does this word mean?' When we deal with any subject we must get on board with what words in that subject mean. If we are talking about the Bible then what Bible version or translation is used will be a determining factor on whether you even understand the English words being used. If faith comes by hearing the word of God (the truth of the Bible or Scriptures) as it tells us in Romans 10:17, then we need to know the definitions of the words we are hearing.

Have you ever spoken to someone about a topic and you both talked right passed each other because you were both using a different set of definitions for the topic at hand? The concepts in your mind were totally different but they thought they agreed with you because they assumed you had the same set of definitions. An example would be: If I called every preacher in the area and asked them if they believe in Predestination and they answered by saying "yes", then what should I do? Should I simply say, "I do too"? Or should I say, "Well, I do, but what do YOU mean when you say YOU do?" The definitions of things and even whole concepts must be brought to the table before we can even know what we are talking about. The idea here is that questions lead to clarity.

If people are not being open for questions or even to challenge themselves with questions then there is no progression in the truth. If a preacher will not answer questions or allow himself to be questioned at all is he not, in a sense, hiding the truth or hiding from something? The Bible says to "Beware of false prophets" (Matt 7:15), which means you cannot trust every preacher out there. Actually according to the 2 verses ahead (13-14) MOST are not to be trusted. In religion, the majority are wrong, in other words. Wow, the job seems to be getting harder. Maybe that information actually just made it easier for some who are starting to think.

When it comes to eternal matters of truth about who God is, what is the condition of humankind, and what is the remedy for that condition, there is no time for ignorance, half hearted attempts at searching for answers and certainly not time to dodge the questions that matter. There is no excuse for laziness in these areas. There is no excuse for ignorance in these areas. Think, read, hear, think some more, question, read some more, hear, challenge, think again and so on. As truth comes in adjustments are made to cast out error. This is progression. The thing is you must get started. Do you care enough to take that journey? There are many questions the Bible asks that could be started with. One is: What do you think of Christ? Think about it. Can you think about that one enough to start reading, digging, and finding answers that would satisfy you? It is dangerous to stop thinking. May God give you grace to ask the right questions and He give you the right answers.

http://www.GospelDefense.com