The Fear Factor!

When life changes at 2013 speed it is easy for fear to grip us in numerous ways.  If you take a step back from your busy life and list the many things that are specific to your life, the things that are changing with which you have no control, it can be frightening to see the fear factor.  Fear is found in every life.  And of late, fear is the leading emotion used by many to base decisions and reactions.


How can we live a life without fear?

The month of September found us studying this subject with our children's ministry and their parents.  Each week highlighted a moment in time from the Bible where God's people overcame the damaging emotion of fear and allowed God to bring about victory in their lives.  Such moments were seen with events unfolding that NO human being could ever do.  Things like the walls of Jericho falling flat.  The bravery of Joseph.  Moses being brave when the atmosphere was not conducive to such. 

The situations may change but the same God who has worked for hundreds of years is the same God who works today! 

Jehovah God is full of power and might.  He is all knowing.  He is caring, kind and loving.  No matter our situations, He is God, and He will bring His children through whatever struggle is before them.  God is God and will always be! 

In a recent sermon I made the statement "stop worrying, I have read the end of the book and we WIN!"  It is a statement that I have said hundreds of times in my ministry.  But this time it seemed to hit home more.  That got me to realizing something.  I began to see the depth of fear in the lives of many.  Is our constant siege producing such fear that we miss the foundational truth needed to press on in difficult times?

Living as a winner requires more than words.  But in the words "...we WIN" are found a truth that sits as a foundation for our lives, if we allow it.  The foundation is that God through Jesus paid for our victory.  In Him, we can overcome the reach of fear.  In Him we WIN!

Take some time to look at the following verses:
Isa 41:10; Isa 41: 13; Isa 43:1; John 12:15; II Tim 1:7

These are but a few of the many exhortations Biblically given to guide us through the fear factor in our lives. 

Though often people prey on our fears to manipulate and control us, God says we are to fear Him alone, and thus allow Him to defeat all other areas of fear in our lives.  Ironically, the one fear we are to have and do not, is the only weapon to defeat the grip of Satan and his use of fear in weighing us down.

Fear nothing but God Himself, and watch fear depart.  Fear God alone, and watch Him bring your life the victory that He has paid for! 

Salvation: Free Gift and Fear and Trembling

 Eph 2:8-9
8    For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,
9    not of works, lest anyone should boast.
(NKJ)

Salvation is a free gift from God to everyone who will believe.  Yes, salvation is that simple.  The faith required to receive Christ is small.  We know this.  We teach this.  We also teach something else.

Phil 2:12
12    Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling;
(NKJ)

Salvation is not to be taken likely.  It is simple.  But it is not as simple as saying "I do not want to go to Hell!".  Salvation is simple.  But it is not as simple as saying "I want to go to heaven!".

How do we put these two passages together.  No doubt there has been in our history those who would emphasis the easy without much attention to the work.  No doubt there are many parents and grandparents who want their family to be in heaven.  And many times, these desires allow our emotions to control our sharing and teaching more than the Word of God.  This issue is not new.  This issue is not going away anytime soon.

As a Youth Pastor I dealt with this on many occasions.  I can remember back when we would Baptize 30 to 40 teenagers a year.  I remember a large portion of those who had "made decisions" as children wanting to avoid Hell and now as teenagers discovering that just avoiding was not the real deal.  I can still hear many parents saying "but they were Baptized...". 

I know as a Pastor the struggle of young parents wanting to answer the questions the right way for their children.  The time spent reviewing the answers before they meet with me or one of my staff.  I hear the words "they are almost there, they are getting it" only to discover that often they may not be as close as we would like to think.

I want everyone to go to Heaven!  I do not want anyone to go to Hell!  And this demands that people get a Biblical salvation.  It is simple - Jesus died to pay for our sins.  It is easy - we must simply accept through the exercise of faith in Jesus.  But it is tough - to work out the repentance aspect.  And some will say "what?"  Indeed this is what Jesus said.  

Mark 1:14-15
14    Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15    and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
(NKJ)

Without the act of repenting, there is no salvation.  This is the most difficult aspect of sharing about Salvation.  To repent means more than "I am sorry".  It is not a head knowledge of right and wrong.  It is more than realizing that we have sinned.  To repent is to see the sin in our lives as the very thing that put Jesus on the cross.  It is to see sin as Jesus sees it.  To repent is to respond to our sin with godly sorrow.  A sorrow that is deeper than regret.

2 Cor 7:10
10    For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.
(NKJ)

Matt 7:21
21    "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.
(NKJ)

And now you see why though simple, salvation must be worked out within our lives.  Do we repent?  Do we have godly sorrow?  

Salvation is a free gift that requires fear and trembling in getting it right.  To miss it, is to spend an eternity in Hell with no hope forever!  To say you believe in God and Jesus means nothing.  To make a quick decision for Heaven to avoid Hell won't cut it. Being Baptized or sprinkled only gets you wet.  To say love wins out and repentance is not too difficult is to fall for the trap of this world.  

Where are you?  Do you know with zero doubts?  Are you sure? What is your connection with Jesus?  Is it His connection or your religious way?

I Jn 5:13
13    These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
(NKJ)

Why and how?

John 3:16
16    "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
(NKJ)

Rom 10:9-13
9    that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
10    For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11    For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame."
12    For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him.
13    For "whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
(NKJ)

Brentwood Benson does VBS RIGHT!

It is normal for people in church life and ministry to think about VBS in February or March.  I have done this for most of my life - even as a child attending every summer VBS of childhood.  But what about actually doing VBS in October?  Now that is totally out of the box.  And that is totally just what we did!  This is a short story of our journey into Fall VBS and the results thereof.

To begin with, Lifeway ending it's relationship with Jeff Slaughter played a huge role in what I will share.  There is none better than Slaughter at developing VBS material and music that shares the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly and effectively with children.  None better anywhere!  And since Slaughter was picked up by Brentwood Benson to put together their first ever VBS material offering, our staff got a little curious.  Our curiosity led us down a new path for VBS.  We decided to go with a Fall VBS and see what would happen.  We contacted Brentwood Benson and asked if we could premier this new offering.  They agreed.  We contacted Slaughter and secured him to be live on stage for two nights of VBS worship and celebration.  He agreed!  Fall VBS would indeed occur.

The following is what we gleaned from this adventure:

1.  Slaughter - still NONE BETTER.  Lifeway really blew it with this one.  His heart for children and the gift and blessing on his writing and arranging cannot be denied.  He is in person as he is on stage - the real deal.  He wants to see people reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And he gives his all to see that this takes place.  The music was beyond good with this material.  Our adults even loved it and get this - it led to a VBS Flash Mob in both morning services this past Sunday.  it was incredible!

2.  The material - what Brentwood Benson has put together is the BEST ever!  My wife who has the same track record as I do in VBS said it this way:  "this material in structure, ideas, how to's, and message was the best ever!"  She loved it.  And so did our other workers.  It was done by people who know VBS and know what is needed.  Often those who write VBS material make the structure difficult and the message seems to get lost in the implementation.  Often the ideas for sharing do not relate to the children of today.  Often, VBS does NOT really get a clear message across.  Not with this one.  The message was clear and powerful!  The children got it!  I have never heard children so get the theme and message of VBS like I did this year! 

Since the theme was a world tour, missions was all over this material.  Our leaders decided to up it even more by Skyping in Missionaries from each of the countries that the tour visited each evening during the group times.  And this was awesome!  The children heard first hand from people doing mission work and prayed for that person and country!  You would not have believed the prayers that went up from these children.

The snacks were even designed to fit the countries each night on the tour and allowed for total theme involvement!  And man were they good!

3.  Evangelistic - everything about this material was evangelistic from start to finish.

4.  Theology - this material is sound and void of the modern hangups found in much material these days.  There are NO worries with theology here!  Straight Jesus and His gift to all who will receive!

5.  Cost - we actually did VBS with less money spent this year than in years past.

Conclusion:
If you want a VBS material that your workers will love, that will clearly and easily share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that will have your children engulfed in VBS and actually "getting it", then you need to call up Brentwood Benson and get your order in!  You will love it!

My perspective on why todays Calvinism is a concern.

Comments for this post will be allowed @ sbctoday.com as they plan on posting it on their site with my permission.

I have debated writing this post for some time.  The reality that anything written can be misconstrued is enough by itself to cause hesitation.  The last thing I want to do is leave the wrong impression with anyone.  I love Calvinists and I love Traditionalists.  I work with both and even some in other groups.  So I write the following to voice concerns that I am seeing and hearing.  I write to add clarification as to why I signed the traditional statement.  I write to reveal why this issue is a growing problem.  And since I write best by making lists, I will list out my concerns while making it clear that NO priority is given other than the first one on the list.

The list will include specifics and generic issues tied to people and promotion.  Again, these are my concerns and are questions that I have yet to get consistent answers from (new)Calvinists of today.  The older SBC Calvinists that I have known and respected were totally different.

My Concerns:

1.  Ask 10 different Calvinists what they believe must occur for a person to be saved and you will get at least 5 different answers.

2.  Do Calvinists really believe that John 3:16 shows that only the elect are the ones God loves.

3.  Do Calvinists believe that some people are born with NO hope of salvation?

4.  At what point do Calvinist believe salvation occurs?

5.  How can Calvinists call Traditionalists divisive when it is the Calvinists that have web sites and blogs that specifically state their desire to change the SBC and beyond?

Here is an example from the Founders blog (knowing their website clearly states their desire to change the SBC):  "It is indisputable that we are in the midst of a reformation and recovery of the doctrines of grace, or what has historically been called, "Calvinism." Both statistical and anecdotal evidence of this fact continues to mount. I believe that this is a movement of God and that it is even more widespread than recent studies indicate. As is true with any of work of God, the devil always keeps pace and seeks to steal, kill and destroy. If he cannot keep us from truth then he will do what he can to cause us to hold the truth in imbalanced and ungodly ways."

6.  Young Pastors and staff members are speaking and writing articles that it is dangerous to lead a child to pray to accept Christ?  If this is true, what then should a child do and how should a child be lead by their parents and other influences?

7.   Why is Lifeway sponsoring The Gospel Coalition conferences?

8.  Why is Lifeway promoting more Calvinists and their material?

9.  Why are Calvinists leaders NOT doing more to instill that Pastors must be upfront with their Soteriology?  There are even manuals on how to transition a church from Traditional to Calvinist doctrine.  If there is no move to change the SBC, why are there manuals by 9Marks and others?

10.  Why the aggression from Calvinists because many in the SBC do NOT agree with them?

11.  If the BF&M is enough, why do we have two Seminaries requiring faculty to sign other statements that are Calvinists/Reformed documents?

12.  Since when did Baptist and Reform go together?  The day to day operations of the church do not even match!

13.  If there is no takeover plan, why was there a SBC Professor giving the benefits of the takover (even using a racial slur) at one of the meetings during the SBC?

14.  Why did Lifeway do a survey that gave the participants no option other than saying they were either Calvinists or Arminion?

15.  With the exception of Infant Baptism, since when were Baptist and Presbyterians so much alike?  Dr. James Kennedy was my kind of Presbyterian but today's New Calvinists are nothing close in belief and practice.  Just think back to Evangelism Explosion materials (I was certified as a trainer in an SBC church).  Today's New Calvinists would reject Dr. Kennedy's material.  How and why?

These are the questions I have.  They are simple and I think need to be answered.  We are told that we need to cooperate.  I am fine with that.  I am concerned though that the answers to the above may highlight the difficult journey that cooperation will reveal.  Some Traditionalists are even saying they will sit this discussion out.  I wonder if they would maintain that position when the real truth of the answers are shown. 

I find this issue extremely important simply by the answers to point number one.  If we cannot agree on that one, then we have two different Gospels.  Cooperation will not occur at that point.

And speaking of the Gospel, is it not odd that Calvinists/Reformed call their Soteriology the true Gospel and thus label much of their work and conferences with the word Gospel in it?

These are my concerns.

Entering into a relationship with Jesus - Part 1

While reading articles on ministry and practice in our current day, my Children's Pastor walked into my office and referred me to an article that dealt specifically with the subject of what NOT to do when sharing the Gospel with a child.  The article is written by a Family Pastor at a church that is quite large in attendance.  I was curious to see what his take was on just how a person "gets saved", or accepts Christ, or...?  The article had my blood boiling quickly.  The article highlighted the confusion being created by those of the Reformed ideas of Soteriology and the deep depths of their intentions to take this poor theological system to the world. 

In the beginning, The Editors of the site that published the article had the following disclaimer/embrace:

Sharing the gospel with our children is an extremely critical task and the language we us to communicate the good news to them is also vitally important. This article offers an alternative view to a very traditional method of evangelism.

From this beginning, it is clear that the information to be shared is against what the author and editors know to be "traditional" in relation to how one accepts Christ or becomes a Christian.  I admit that this statement alone had me boiling.  But the reality that someone has now figured out that we have been doing the command of disciple making wrong and that millions who have accepted Christ over the years have also done it wrong leaves one with no other alternative than to boil - a lot!  The arrogance of the mere thought is typical in the modern day Reformed movement known as New Calvinist.  It is this arrogance that is leading to charges of arrogance, and rightly so.

The author seems to somewhat flip/flop on the subject in his opening by stating:

Your child lies in her snugly, warm bed and says, “Yes, Daddy.  I want to ask Jesus into my heart.”  You lead her in “the prayer” and hope that it sticks.  You spend the next ten years questioning if she really, really meant it.  Puberty hits, and you only have more questions.  She turns away from faith.  You spend the next ten years praying that she will come to her senses.  What went wrong?

 And then the author says the following:

Of course, there is no way to guarantee that an early acceptance of the gospel will stick, and parents should not feel defeated when their adolescents question or even rebel against what they have been taught from a young age.  

Is the author saying that the child accepted Christ, became a child of God, and then lost Jesus or left Him?  True there is NO way as a human being to know for certain that anyone other than self has entered into a relationship with Jesus.  I do not question this at all.  What I do raise as a point of theological fact is that the Gospel is NOT a thing that sticks or does not.  Either a person accepts Christ and becomes a Christian, secured by Jesus for all eternity, or they do not, and remain lost needing to accept Christ.

As a parent of two teenage boys, I never once questioned my sons salvation.  I heard from them of their decision to accept Christ and witnessed the brokenness over sin and the effects of it, in their lives.  Maybe some parents do question this, but to present an article on a subject that is as important as salvation, presuming to know something that is NOT general in terms by any means, presents more of the arrogance of this movement and highlights a great problem - what is the Gospel and how does one enter into a relationship with Jesus and know that it is sealed for all eternity?

My next post will deal with the specifics of this article.  At the end of the review, I will share the article and author information.