Thursday, September 24, 2009

Faith And Repentance At Work From The Preaching Of God's Word

How does faith and repentance take place since the natural man is incapable of creating a right thought, generating a right affection, or originating a right volition (Rom. 3:11, 8:7; John 3:3, 6)?

When spoken in the power of the Holy Spirit, the word of God has the power to graciously open people's eyes, unplug their uncircumcised ears, change the disposition of their hearts, draw them to faith, and save them (James 1:18, 1 Peter 1:23, 25).

The word of God does not work "ex opere operato," rather, it is the work of the Holy Spirit sovereignly dispensing grace (John 3:8), quickening the heart through the word to bring forth life. So the written word is not the material of the spiritual new birth, but rather its means or medium.

"The word is not the begetting principle itself, but only that by which it works: the vehicle of the mysterious germinating power" [ALFORD]. It is because the Spirit of God accompanies it that the word carries in it the germ of life. The life is in God, yet it is communicated to us through the word.

~ Monergism Distinctives

Who May Ascend & Who May Stand Before The Lord?

Psalm 24.4 says,

One Who has not lifted up his soul unto vanity - Unto that which is "vain," or which is "false."

This expression might refer to one who had not devoted himself to the worship of an idol - regarded as vain, or as nothing 1Corinthians 8:6; Isaiah 41:24; Psalm 115:4-8; or to one who had not embraced that which is false and vain in opinion; or to one who had not sworn falsely, or taken the name of God in vain, Exodus 20:7.

The probable meaning is, that he has not set his heart on vain things, or that which is false. He has sought after substantial truth, alike in the object of worship, in that which he professes to believe, and in the statements and promises which he makes to others. He aims to secure that which is true and real. He is in no sense "carried away" with that which is unreal and false.

~ Albert Barnes

My prayer is that God will protect our faith in Him, so that we will not get swept away by anything that is vain and false in our devotion to Him. I'm praying that we will not be too easily satisfied, but maintain a long, deep, and abiding desire for Christ.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Mission To El Higo, Mexico

God gave us a wonderful time visiting the children's home ministry in El Higo, Mexico. The name of the home is Casa Hogar De La Montana (which means home of the homeless in the mountains). It is located about 3 hours south of Laredo, Texas (which is a border town).

We learned that it is more of a foster home than an orphanage and all the children will remain there until they are 18. They currently have two houses. They are divided between the younger children (10 kids) and preteen and teenagers (14 kids). So they currently have 24 children, but some of them are from the two sets of indigenous parents that run the two houses. Their goal is to have 12 houses one day. It is truly a beautiful place that is snuggled in the Mexican mountains. I was told that the elevation is compared to Denver, Colorado.

We spent three days actually interacting with the leader of the ministry, Al Gatty and the family that oversees the ministry, Phillip and Rebbecca Askee and their two teenage daughters. The Askees are Americans who are from a town right outside of Dallas and they are a very sweet Christian family who have a desire not only to minister to the children, but an amazing desire to reach the village that is located next to their children's home.

The village next to the children's home is very poor. It probably has about 75-100 people who live in this village. Spiritually it is a very dark village and they are in desperate need of a true gospel presence. There is a lot of drunkenness and other kinds of sins that I would prefer not to mention.

Our purpose in going was to assess the possibility of starting a new church on the land of the children's home, but in order to reach the village of El Higo and other villages within the area.

Our mother church, Lakewood Baptist and Pastor Brent Wells are leading this effort and as a church planter asked me to go along to assess this possibility.

As the Lord would lead you please pray that God will give each of us wisdom and discernment as we continue the process of discussing with Al, Phillip, and Rebbecca about planting a church in El Higo, Mexico.

Thank you!

Why Are You Called A Christian?

Why are you called a Christian?

“Because I am a member of Christ by faith and thus share in His anointing, so that I may as prophet confess His Name, as priest present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him, and as king fight with a free and good conscience against sin and the devil in this life, and hereafter reign with Him eternally over all creatures.”

- The Heidelberg Catechism

(HT: Of First Importance)

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Just Returned From Mission To Mexico

Just returned from our mission trip to Mexico yesterday (Saturday) evening.

Now it's Sunday morning....I'm feeling a little under the weather and wanted to let everyone know that I will post soon on our trip to Mexico.

Please pray for our family!

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Moralism or The Gospel?

Here is an excellent article from Al Mohler that every pastor, parent and I'm trying to think of another 'P' word but I can't, needs to read.

Take 3-5 minutes to read this article on whether or not your preaching moralism and/or 'raising your kids right', but in the end all your doing is teaching people/children how to be moral.

This is NOT the gospel!

This is a really good article and worth the few minutes to read it.

Let me hear your thoughts on it!

http://www.albertmohler.com/blog_read.php?id=4388