[esvbible format="inline"]Psalm 119:71[/esvbible]

As with my previous post, this was written to accompany my resume. I should start sending out resumes in a few days. Pray for me as I look for a full time position!

The following beliefs are not comprehensive. I avoided a few issues that I am still wrestling with, left out several important topics for brevity, and likewise did not go into much depth on the topics I did touch on.

I believe the Bible to be the word of God. It is the primary source for teaching and instruction in the Christian faith. While other sources (such as commentaries, devotional books, historical studies, and theological works) can help believers to study and understand the Bible, we are not free to teach or believe anything that contradicts the Word of God. I believe the Bible is trustworthy and reliable as well as timeless and unchanging. God’s truth does not change from culture to culture, though how we communicate that truth might be different from one culture to another.

I believe that the Bible reveals God to be Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, each existing as distinct persons while forming the one union of the godhead. God is triune, the three-in-one. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are always united in motivation and purpose while carrying out different work within their sovereign will. The Father is the overseer of the Godhead, directing the actions of the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Son is the redemptive agent of the Godhead, carrying out God’s redemptive plan through his death, burial, resurrection, and continued intercession for humanity. The Holy Spirit is the protector and preserver of the will of God, working in believers as a comfort and counselor who guarantees that believers will receive the blessings of salvation, who helps believers to understand and practice the teachings of God in the Bible, and who assists and speaks through believers in defending and proclaiming the gospel to the world. Although Father, Son, and Holy Spirit perform distinct actions, they are together equal and together eternal, eternally existing as the one true God.

I believe human beings are all fallen into sin, sharing in the fall of Adam and Eve. Like David in the Psalms, we are sinful and separated from God from the moment we are conceived. We are unable to save ourselves and are dependent on God to send a savior who would bear the curse of sin on our behalf. That work was accomplished by Jesus Christ through his death on the cross. Through his resurrection he conquered death. All who call upon his name receive forgiveness of sins from him, are covered with his righteousness, are given a new heart which is able to please God, and begin the process of sanctification – becoming like Christ – which will continue until death takes them to be with the Lord where they will be glorified, having the sinful flesh fully and completely cast off and becoming so united to God that throughout eternity they will never again turn away from him in sin and rebellion.

I believe that God uses human beings in his plan. He has no need to use humans so the work he calls us to do is an act of grace on his part. All Christians are called to serve him as ministers of the gospel. All that we do should be in service to him, from the preacher who preaches on Sunday to the bus driver who takes kids to school on Monday. All are called to live by faith, to display Christ in our actions, and to proclaim Christ with our mouths. We are to be wise as serpents and gentle as doves, praying for wisdom so that we might boldly proclaim Christ in the way that most glorifies God and is most effective to reach a lost world.

I believe that God has equipped all Christians to serve in the church. Church ministry is not just for those ordained to full time service. Church ministry is for all believers. God has given gifts to all Christians and he expects us to use those gifts on behalf of other believers. Not everyone is called to serve the church in the same way. In particular, God has ordained different forms of service for men and for women. In the eyes of God, men and women are equal in terms of worth and value. All are precious in his sight. And yet in his wisdom God has structured society so that men are to be the heads of their homes and their churches. Men are to lead with love, compassion, service, and humility. Like Eve in the garden, women are to be helpers in the work, performing ministry that is vital to the church. The church cannot fully serve God without both men and women, and the church cannot fully serve God if men do not do what men are called to do and if women do not do what women are called to do.

I believe that someday God will bring his ministry on earth to a close. On that day Jesus Christ will return, not as a suffering servant but as a conquering king. Sin will be eradicated once and for all. Those who have persisted in their rebellion against and rejection of God will be condemned and punished eternally in Hell where they will experience unending, conscious suffering. Those who have been adopted into the family of God through salvation in Jesus Christ will join God in Heaven where they will forever exist to worship and glorify God.

I originally wrote this to accompany my resume. I have not yet decided if I will send it out with the resume since most resumes leave out this sort of thing. That strikes me as odd, I would think this is more along the lines of the sort of thing a church would want to know.

I will also post an entry on my statement of faith and belief, also written to go with my resume.

I was blessed to have been raised in a Christian home and in a godly, biblical Presbyterian (PCA) church. I do not remember a time when I did not know the message of Jesus Christ. As a child I learned that I was a sinner in need of a savior and as a child I received forgiveness through Jesus Christ. I have experienced many years of straying, particularly during my later high school and early college years. Only the grace of God protected and preserved me from my own attempts to plunge into sin.

Around 1999 I began to visit a small Baptist church plant. Eventually I joined the church through baptism. I still respect and appreciate the church I grew up in but came to a disagreement with what the Presbyterian church teaches about baptism. I became convinced that the Bible teaches that believers should be baptized by immersion after placing their faith in Jesus Christ.

The church I joined also provided my first opportunities for ministry service. I was able to lead Bible studies, teach Sunday school, run Bible drills, and eventually became the minister of youth. It was during my time at this church that I began to feel that God wanted me to serve him through full time ministry in a church. I transferred from Mississippi State University to a small Southern Baptist college to pursue a Biblical Studies degree. My first day there I met a cute redhead named Sandra who I eventually asked to marry me. On August 16, 2003, standing in the Presbyterian church I grew up in, we were married. While at Blue Mountain College I also served for a time as youth minister at Pine Grove Baptist Church

The following May Sandra and I graduated from Blue Mountain College and moved to Birmingham, Alabama where I pursued a Master of Divinity degree at Beeson Divinity School. While at Beeson I had the opportunity to serve as interim pastor at Artesia Baptist Church; I had the opportunity to teach, preach, and evangelize for three weeks in and around Ayacucho, Peru; and I had and continue to have the opportunity to serve as part time pastor of Overton First Baptist Church. Both of our children were also born while in Birmingham. In May of 2008 I graduated from Beeson and am now seeking God’s guidance to a full time ministry position.

My primary gifts are with teaching and preaching. God has graciously given me the ability to study and understand his word and to be able to help others see what God is teaching us in the Bible and how our lives should reflect his truth.

First and foremost, the purpose of evangelism is like everything else in life: the purpose is to glorify God. This is perhaps the main reason why we are not to be results-driven in our evangelistic practices. We are to faithfully represent God to people, presenting to them their sin and what God has done for their sin. If people do not respond, they do not respond. We are to continue faithful preaching, not seek to devise new methods and a new message that might compel people in a new age to respond.

The primary purpose of evangelism is the glory of God, and God is glorified whenever people point to him in faith and with truth.

HT: This Bread Always

A great quote from Pierced For Our Transgressions:

…false faith alienates us from God. More than this, it alienates us from ourselves, for we know how to be truly human only when our humanity is located in a right relationship with our Creator – human beings alienated from God live inauthentic lives. This has implications for the rest of creation, for it was designed to flourish under the governance of true humanity (Ps. 8), and now that order has been disturbed.

Pierced for Our Transgressions, page 115.

Today I finished my series through the five solas. I have only posted notes from one other sermon in the series, By Christ Alone. I thought I would post the outline for today’s sermon.

The glory of God is a topic that takes up a lot of room in the Bible. The word glory or glorify occurs over 350 times and most of these somehow refer to God. Scripture teaches that God’s actions are intended to proclaim his glory. Humans as well are created to demonstrate his glory. All of us will fulfill that purpose whether we want to or not – God will gain glory from every human being. But in today’s world people do not seem to recognize that we were created for the glory of God. In this sermon I wanted to help people understand what glory is, that God works for his glory, that we are to work for his glory, and that we glorify God through worship. True worship should take place always, every day that we live. It is not just a Sunday morning thing.

At any rate, on to my sermon outline.

Soli Deo Gloria
Glory to God Alone
Ephesians 1:3-14

1. To God alone be the glory.
1. How does your life bring glory to God? Are you intentionally glorifying God?
2. Bringing the series to an end: all that we have discussed is for God’s glory.
3. Where we are going today
1. Glory defined
2. The work of God: Glorifying God
3. The work of man: Glorifying God
4. The way to glorify God
4. Today’s text: Ephesians 1:3-14
1. This is not a sermon on predestination
2. Verses 6, 12, 14: the purpose of his work is our praise of his glory.
2. What is glory?
1. Hebrew Kavod – weight, importance.
2. Greek Doxa – splendor, greatness.
3. Importance, significance, worthy of focus and attention.
4. Glorify: to point to God’s glory.
5. Ross: To speak about God’s glory is to declare his importance or the display of that importance in history and in creation.
3. The work of God: Glorifying God.
1. All the work is performed by God.
1. He blessed us; he chose to save us; he redeemed us; he adopted us; he lavished grace on us; he revealed his saving will to us; he will unite us to him; he has given us an inheritance; he sealed us with the Holy Spirit.
2. All the work is for the glory of God.
1. V6, that we would praise his glorious grace
2. V12, saved so that we would praise his glory
3. V14, given the Holy Spirit so that we would praise his glory
4. God does not work to exalt man; he works to exalt himself.
5. God does not exist to lift us up, we exist to lift him up.
6. God loves his creation but his love does not override his protection of his glory.
3. God is jealous for his glory: Isa. 48:9-11
1. Here God gives his mercy for his own sake, not for our sake.
4. God’s glory fills the earth: Numbers 14:21
4. The work of man: Glorifying God.
1. The work of God brings about praise from man.
2. Salvation does not draw attention to you.
3. The blessings of Christ do not point to you.
4. Liberation theology and health and wealth: puts the focus in the wrong place.
5. All that we do should bring glory to God, not to us: Psalm 115:1
6. We do not create more glory for God, we point to his glory: John 5:41
7. The chief end of man.
8. In the end all will glorify God – even the enemies of God will unwittingly bring him glory: Exodus 14:4; Romans 9:22-23
9. We will glorify God throughout eternity: Rev. 5:11-13
10. God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.
1. Enjoy the blessings of the Lord for his glory
2. Enjoy the love of the Lord for his glory
3. Share the salvation of God for his glory
5. The way to glorify: Worship.
1. More than just songs on Sunday morning.
2. Like faith, worship is belief lived out.
3. Praise, words, works: Psalm 96:7-10
4. When the world sees our worship, they see what we worship.
5. What the world sees should lead them to glorify God: Matt. 5:16
6. The world needs to know of God’s glory.

Benediction: Romans 16:25-27

[esvbible format="block"]Romans 16:25-27[/esvbible]

The title reflects a common saying and a common attitude that worship is something that takes place at church during the worship service. I am reading a section of Recalling the Hope of Glory by Allen Ross and in the book he gives us this good word of instruction:

…genuine worship takes the form of spiritual service and religious practice. Accordingly, down through the centuries the faithful have used the word service to describe the order and intent of communal worship – the worship service – and the word observance to describe what practices are being followed. In the New Testament we shall encounter a word for the spiritual work or service of the people – liturgy. 

Worship does take place during church – at least it should. But worship isn’t something that takes place only when we are singing, praying, or studying the Bible. Worship is also the act of living out what we claim to believe (in this way worship can be described much like faith). Are we truly worshiping God if we go through religious rituals and acts but never do the things he commands? Is it worship to give him lip service while ignoring his commands? I think not.

God thinks not.

[esvbible format="inline"]Isaiah 58[/esvbible]

Often when non-Calvinists look at Calvinists they see an angry, hostile, rude group of people who look down on everyone that isn’t a Calvinist. Many Calvinists deny that the perception is true, but this kind of behavior has been observed by so many that it cannot simply be imagination.

This has also been my experience with many Calvinists and for me it is one of the big barriers to Calvinist theology. Can a doctrine be biblical when it leads so many people to act so unkind, unloving, unChristlike? The answer is yes, it can. People misuse and abuse doctrine all the time. The theology of Calvinism can indeed be biblical and yet followers of that theology may act it out in less than biblical ways.

Calvinists are certainly not the only ones guilty of theological arrogance and hostility. Many non-Calvinists are just as hostile, just as belligerent as the worst of the Calvinists. Ergun Caner immediately comes to mind. What contact I have had with his writing and teaching, I have seen nothing but anger and hostility toward those who disagree with him, particularly toward Calvinists. It is one thing to defend what one believes to be truth; it is another to show nothing but hostility.

On the flipside, many Calvinists display the most gentle, loving, and Christlike spirit imaginable. Piper is usually one of them. I have known others, such as Frank Thielman, a professor at Beeson Divinity School and Christian George, a fellow Beeson graduate, who have also displayed grace, peace and love.

John Piper has addressed the issue of Calvinist negativity through his daily Ask Pastor John podcast. I recommend you check it out.

John MacArthur has written about six components that are essential in a Christian worldview. These components are:

1. Objectivity
2. Rationality
3. Veracity
4. Authority
5. Incompatibility
6. Integrity

Go to his website to read what he says about these components. He notes that these are sadly absent in many Evangelical circles today. He says:

Evangelicalism is losing its footing; people’s confidence in the Scriptures is eroding; and the church is losing its testimony. Fewer and fewer Christians are willing to stand against the trends of this generation, and the effects have been disastrous. Subjectivity, irrationality, worldliness, uncertainty, compromise, and hypocrisy have already become commonplace among churches and organizations that once constituted the evangelical mainstream.

On one end Evangelicals, once champions of biblical authority, have drifted into cultural complacency. On the other end Evangelicals have drifted away from the power of God to transform culture and look instead to change things through political influence.

May God turn our eyes away from the lures and powers of this world and fix our eyes on himself. May he give us the strength to resist the temptations of the devil and display to the world an example of the love, grace, strength, humility, and boldness of Christ.