Where's Naldo?

Theological Word of the Day

(Latin, “the Scripture alone”)

Belief of Protestants that Christian Scripture is the final and only infallible authority for the Christian in matters of faith and practice. Sola Scriptura was coined during the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, but according to Protestants, is found throughout Christian history. The belief in Sola Scriptura contrasts both the Catholic, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness, and Eastern Orthodox belief that along with Scripture there necessarily exists an infallible authority which either interprets the Scripture with ultimate authority or adds new revelations to supplement the Scripture. Hence, in these traditions, the Scripture is not the final, ultimate, or only infallible authority as there are other authorities equal to that of Scripture. Protestants, on the other hand, while respecting the existence of other authorities (tradition, experience, reason, creation, etc.), do not believe that these are equal to that of Scripture and therefore must always be tested by, and submitted to, Scripture.

Friendship Evangelism is a GOOD thing! (From Pressing On Until Glory)

Friendship evangelism is a good thing. So often we denounce those who employ this method, but after a considerable amount of time contemplating this approach, I don't think there is anything wrong with it...so far as it is rightly defined and applied.

Evangelism requires sharing the gospel. Any other notion of how evangelism is defined is incorrect. Thus, if one believes he or she can share the gospel just by being different (e.g. not having a foul mouth, helping others, fulfilling various needs, etc.), that individual is wrong. By shear definition, the word that is often translated in the Greek (evangelism) means "good news." The Greek word was not limited to the gospel proclamation, but in the New Testament, it became a "Christian" word. Nevertheless, good news is only good news if it is shared. If the gospel means "good news" and yet it is not shared, how could anyone define it as "good news"? Therefore, evangelism requires opening one's mouth to share the gospel.

But how should this be done? Should we open air evangelize? Should we one-on-one witness? Should be build relationships?

I believe all of the above are adequate. I am reminded of my interview with Dr. J.I. Packer. During our interview, he said he loves the term "friendship evangelism." Now, there are many who will hear that and either:

A) Respond to his comment with distaste...

OR

B) Grab onto his comment and continue in their methods...

But neither response is correct because in order to understand what Dr. Packer meant, one must read his book.

In His book Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, he explained what he meant by friendship evangelism. He said (paraphrase), "Whether it takes 5 minutes to build a relationship or 5 months, one must have a relationship with a person in order to share the gospel."

I agree with his statement wholeheartedly. A relationship must be established in order to share the gospel. And whether that relationship takes 30 seconds to build or 3 months, it must be there.

So...what does this have to do with friendship evangelism? Answer: everything!

The relationships that we establish must be built on sharing the gospel versus using relationships as a means to share the gospel. Allow me to explain.

There are many who attempt to build relationships with others as a means to share the gospel. In their hearts, they feel that building a relationship will soften the blow of an ordinarily offensive gospel. In doing this, they try to be the best friend that they can in order to show the new friend the virtues of a Christian.

Is this method acceptable? Yes! Is it honest? No!

As I consider this method more and more, I have come to realize two things.

1) This method is skulk. Most people who employ this method really don't want to get to know the other person. They simply utilize the friendship as a way to get them interested in the things of God. Are they being honest? Did they really care about the person in the first place? Is this a person they truly want to hang out with and get to know? If so, we must consider that relationships are reciprocal. Just as you want to get to know the new friend, the new friend should want to get to know you. And what is the most important and interesting thing about you? Well, it isn't your looks, nor the car you drive, nor your occupation, but Christ. This leads me to my second point.

2) As this method is typically employed, the relationship is not founded on the things of God. Any smart person who gets Christ sprung on them after 6 months should rightly note the reason why the relationship existed in the first (provided the aforementioned is true). Thus, there may be even more of a shock factor then as opposed to being upfront and letting the person know who you are in Christ upfront. And again, this may be immediate, provided the environment is adequate, or it may be in weeks to come. Nonetheless, the relationship must be founded on the gospel.

In conclusion, I believe friendship evangelism is a good thing if properly defined. And I would define in this fashion.

Friendship Evangelism: Building a relationship with someone utilizing the gospel as its foundation.

This may take 5 minutes and it may take 6 months, but that must be the intention when building a relationship with an unconverted person.

Yes, that person may have attributes that you adore. Yes, that person may have great family values, but it all means nothing if they don't have a reconciled relationship with the Father.

So, build relationships! But look for every opportunity to share the gospel along the way. And remember, the relationship must be built upon the gospel; and not used as a means to share it.

James White Debates Harold Camping on Iron Sharpens Iron July 28th & 29th

You can find Iron Sharpens Iron at sharpens.blogspot.com

Are You Bored?

Question & Answer with Paul Washer

Why Evangelize?

Book Giveaway!

An Awesome GOD

A Call to Wonder - Paul Washer from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Tip Of the Week

Let go of your Sin or Perish - Tim Conway from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

True Church Conference 2009 in Muscle Shoals, AL

GOD is love. Repent & come back to HIM.

Come to Christ, He is Mighty to Save - Paul Washer from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Cool Video

How do I repent? - Tim Conway from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

I highly recommend this book! Here's an excerpt from the last chapter, "Leaning on the Second Bookend."

FOCAL POINT #3
REJECTION OF SELF-RELIANCE

If you take even a cursory overview of your life with an eye to self-reliance, we expect you'll quickly detect it. If you don't, simply place your last twenty-four hours under the light of the following questions:

How many times was I consciously aware of relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, instead of on myself?

How many times did I acknowledge God's sovereign hand and power sustaining my every endeavor-voluntary or involuntary, conscious or unconscious?

But seeing our self-reliance is the easy part; the challenge is rejecting it. Self-reliance is like the poison ivy one of our neighbors had in his backyard. By the time Mickey, his wife, their two toddlers, and his mother-in-law developed unspeakable cases of itching and oozing, he decided he'd had enough. He called it The Enemy.

At first, Mickey attacked it with his John Deere garden tractor. He tried to mow and scrape it to death. It popped back up within a few days. Next, he decided to douse it with kerosene and light a match. Instantly, thirty feet of spectacular black smoke rolled off the backyard. Two weeks later The Enemy was back.

Then Mickey got desperate. He put on rubber gloves, severed every visible vine, and yanked off every last leaf. Come midnight, he actually thought he could hear the poison ivy laughing outside his bedroom window. Sure enough, it eventually came back with a vengeance-twice as bad as it was in the first place.

To kill poison ivy, or self-reliance, you have to get it by the roots. The tap-root of self-reliance is ultimately found in the statement, "I will be as God." Adam and Eve embraced it as the motive for the original sin (Genesis 3:5-6). Long before that, Lucifer (Satan) said essentially the same thing: "I will make myself like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14). This constitutes a declaration of independence from God. It's cosmic treason. But this attitude isn't limited to the likes of Adam, Eve and Lucifer. It's at the root of the remaining sin nature in all of us.

All three gospel enemies spring forth from this common root. It's the essence of our self-reliance with its unspoken claim that I can do it myself. It's behind our ever-present bent toward self-righteousness, as well. If I'm my own god, I determine what's right and wrong, and I declare myself good enough. Even persistent guilt has its root in this statement, because it's a refusal to acknowledge and embrace the solution God has provided for our sin dilemma, as if to say, I will be my own judge.

Therefore, the focus of the battle with all three gospel enemies, and self-reliance in particular, should center on making a deliberate, repeated counter-declaration: "God is God, and I am not." And once we make that pronouncement each day, we must pray for opportunities and strength to apply it.

Mickey eventually used a herbicide designed to kill the roots of the poison ivy. But by the time The Enemy surrendered, there were sizable bare spots in the landscape. That's when Mickey got smart. He planted and cultivated two varieties of hardy perennials, daylilies and yellow irises. Three years later, the area that had once been a war zone was so thick with the new plants, there was no way poison ivy-or anything else-could take root there again.

Taking a lesson from both Mickey and the Bible, our daily war plan calls for us to kill self-reliance and replace it by planting and cultivating the daylilies of humility and the yellow irises of godliness.

C. J. Mahaney defines humility as "honestly assessing ourselves in light of GOd's holiness and our sifulness." We could easily substitute our word seeing for C. J.'s word assessing. John Stott described the best place to find the basis for such humility:

Nothing in history or in the universe cuts us down to size like the cross. All of us have inflated views of ourselves. . . until we have visited a place called Calvary. It is there, at the foot of the cross that we shrink to our true size.

Why is a fresh view of the cross needed in order to cultivate humility? When we see Jesus there bearing our sin, we also see exactly what we deserve from God for each sin we commit. Then and only then can we begin to honestly assess ourselves. The One whose flesh was nailed to the cross should have been us: "He was pierced through for our transgressions" (Isaiah 53:5). At the cross we see t he holiness of God as well-his perfect justice served by unleashing his undiluted wrath against sin, as he punished and rejected the sin bearer in our place.

As we revisit the cross and linger there in meditation focused on its unending and unfathomable wonders, we cultivate a thick patch of the daylilies we call humility, and when this happens, there's no longer any room for the pride that leads to the desire to be like God.

Now for the irises. We define godliness as "the attitude of regarding God in everything all the time." We display this attitude when, no matter what we do, we "do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31). The godly person is a God-centered, God glorifying, God-esteeming person. The opposite of godliness is ungodliness, the disregarding of God. All expressions of pride are rooted in ungodliness, because you must first disregard God before you can be prideful. So for us, the battle for godliness is the linchpin of our war plan.

How do we fight for godliness? It starts the same way we fight for humility-by seeing the cross as the overarching message and meaning of life and the universe. From there we must discipline our minds to practice the presence of God, "and take every thought captive to obey Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Seeing and rejecting self-reliance and replacing it with humility and godliness always results in a shift of our dependence. But that shift isn't permanent; it must be continuously renewed daily at the foot of the cross.

John Calvin - born 500 years ago today

John Calvin was born on July 10, 1509, exactly 500 years ago today. In Europe, especially in Geneva Switzerland, there are many celebrations taking place. I am not sure how much attention will be given to the significance of this date in the USA. He remains a very misunderstood man.

I recently read an article suggesting (with some merit) that Calvin's influence on the founding of America was so great that he needs to be mentioned in the same breath as the founding fathers. It was the Geneva Study Bible with study notes penned by Calvin (and his fellow Reformers) that was the Bible brought over on the Mayflower and his religious ideas had much to do with how our country was forged and shaped in its early decades.

Calvin, even today has widespread influence. His commentaries and certainly his Institutes of the Christian Religion, where he laid out a comprehensive theology for the doctrines of Protestant Reformation (when many of those who believed these things were dying martyrs deaths under persecution from Rome) are still being read.

Its actually unfortunate that a man's name is associated with the doctrines that came out of the Protestant Reformation. It is not something he would have wanted. He spoke and wrote very little about himself. He wanted his readers to be pointed to Christ, not to himself. In character, he specifically asked that he would be buried in an unmarked grave, such was his aversion to public interest. He did not wish for attention to be given to him - but to his Lord and Master.

Calvin has taught me many things as I have read his works in recent years. He has taught me about the majesty and supremacy of God, His Providence in all things and perhaps most poignantly than anyone else, he has taught me that there is not such thing as grace, outside of Jesus Christ. Grace is not some substance found in isolation, but is an attribute of God that finds its expression in and through Jesus Christ without the need for any go between - no Mary, or saints, priest or Pope - in Latin, the Reformers cry was Sola Christus, Jesus Christ alone.

T. H. L. Parker, in his introduction to a book about Calvin wrote, "I am eager for people to know Calvin...because he took the Bible so seriously, and because what he saw on every page was the majesty of God and the glory of Christ. Calvin continues to inspire me because of his relentless focus on the greatness of God.... In the end, Calvin’s manifold ways of inspiring us have the effect they do century after century because he saw the gospel so clearly and made Christ so central.... If Jesus Christ, in all his majesty and excellence, is kept in clear view, the church will be kept from many errors. Therefore, Calvin continues to inspire and serve the church five hundred years after his birth...."

Calvin was not the first to articulate the Biblical truths of the Reformation, but merely was the chief systematizer of such doctrines. There was actually nothing in Calvin that was not first seen in Luther, and much of Luther was first found in Augustine. Luther was an Augustinian monk, of course. We would also naturally affirm that there was nothing in any of these men that was not first found in Paul and Peter and John in the New Testament. If you are not a Roman Catholic today, whether or not you realize it, you owe a lot to men like Calvin and Luther.

Even now, though I have profound respect for Calvin, I have no desire to be a Calvinist in the Corinthian sense of the word - a follower of John Calvin, per say. Though I believe Calvin was a tremendous expositor of the Scriptures and had many great insights, I am not someone who believes he was in any way infallible. I am with Spurgeon who declared, "There is no soul living who holds more firmly to the doctrines of grace than I do, and if any man asks me whether I am ashamed to be called a Calvinist, I answer - I wish to be called nothing but a Christian; but if you ask me, do I hold the doctrinal views which were held by John Calvin, I reply, I do in the main hold them, and rejoice to avow it." (C. H. Spurgeon, a Defense of Calvinism)

Today, 500 years from his birth, I especially thank God for the enduring legacy of one of God's precious gifts to His Church, the man Warfield called "the theologian of the Holy Spirit," John Calvin.

Karroll makes a brief announcement!

The Cure Apostasy Virus - Hope & The problem with Evil part 6 - How evil glorifies God

Jim Masters on Hebrews 6:13 - 20 The Cure Apostasy Virus - Hope




The problem with Evil part 6 - How evil glorifies God

Paul Washer Bible Study

Here's the video for the new website for Heritage

Celebrate the Journey of Life from barnabas on Vimeo.

First Southern Baptist Church in Cottonwood, AZ

Jim Masters on Hebrews 5:11-6:12 - The Apostasy Virus




Randy Jamison on The Problem of Evil - Part 5 -- Free will of man - God's secret will, God's preceptive will God's will of disposition - Man's free will, libertarian vs compatible.


What a wonderful time we had at First Southern Cottonwood. God is so faithful and gracious to let us visit this church. I hope to be posting more sermons from these folks.

You can visit them at firstsoutherncottonwood.com

Steve Mcnair is dead, however JESUS is Alive!

Give up on self, Trust on Christ Alone

Give up on self, Trust on Christ Alone from I'll Be Honest on Vimeo.

Family Worship (an excerpt from p54-55)

The practice of family worship is a means, not an end. It is a means to the end of knowing God. The name of the game is not daily family worship per se; it is knowing God. The end is knowing God. A means to employ in reaching that end is family worship.

You need family worship that connects with your children and their lives. You must be creative and flexible in assuring that your family worship serves the shepherding and nurturing tasks we have outlined above.

Reading the Proverbs daily is of great benefit to children (and to adults). Our daily practice was to read one-third of a chapter of Proverbs before school each day. This was a rich source of wisdom and encouragement for our children. We have seen them learn and then later internalize the principles in this practical section of the Word of God. The Proverbs serve as an owner's manual for life. Proverbs confronts a child with every aspect of true spirituality.

When our children were little, we would read Old Testament passages and act them out. I have been Goliath (with the help of a chair). We have children in caves (under the table) with David as he ran from Saul. Reading some of the Psalms of persecution in that setting made them come alive for our children. One day, we packed our things and set out on foot, talking about Abraham who left Ur not knowing where he would go, only knowing God would go with him. We tried to imagine walking away from our home knowing we would never come back again. We tried to imagine not knowing where we would go.

Why do all this? For this simple reason: to make the Bible truth live for our children. Always remember that the goal of family worship is knowing God. When you lose sight of that goal, family, worship becomes an empty ritual. You need only read Isaiah 1 to see how God feels about empty ritual.

(You can buy a copy of this book Used for $3.99 at Amazon.com)

An encouraging Quote! Thanks D. B.

I will remember distributing them in a town in England where tracts had never been distributed before, and going from house to house, and telling in humble language the things of the kingdom of God. I might have done nothing, if I had not been encouraged by finding myself able to do something. . . [Tracts are] adapted to those persons who have but little power and little ability, but nevertheless, wish to do something for Christ. They may not have the tongue of the eloquent, but they may have the hand of the diligent. They cannot stand and preach, but they can stand and distribute here and there these silent preachers. . . They may buy their thousand tracts, and these they can distribute broadcast.