Dan Gross, director of Rejoicing In Grace Ministries, is traveling in India during February teaching the message of grace. He is sending reports from the field as often as he can and they can be read here. Check back for updates daily. And don't forget to be praying for this mission outreach. See II Thess. 3:1,2 if you're wondering how to pray!
Also, we have received an email from a missionary partner in China with some thoughts about India. You can find it here.
Sunday, February 18, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
A "How To" I Found Helpful
As we have been moving the Grace School of the Bible classes in to DVD format, this web site was extremely enlightening—especially for a non-techy like me.
HowTo Burn (almost) any video file to a playable DVD
Check it out for yourself.
HowTo Burn (almost) any video file to a playable DVD
Check it out for yourself.
Sex, Education and Religion
The recent bizarre behavior of space shuttle astronaut Lisa Nowak and the circus surrounding the death of Anna Nicole Smith demonstrate that at least two of the three god’s of American culture—sex and education—are thoroughly jejune of worth. Neither “rocket science” level education, a la Nowak, nor sex-based adulation, a la Smith, were antidotes to stupidity and depravity.
Interestingly, the media has demonstrated in its coverage of both events its own utter bankruptcy—to say nothing of its growing useless. Their obsessed fixation with the stories of two people who had basically no influence on our society needs to be contrasted with the fact it barely flinched at a Muslim gunman from Bosnia who killed 5 people in a Utah mall. This act of terrorism was mostly ignored, and that is a significant reason why we will likely suffer another 9-11 type attack. Our culture is too deep in celebrating plastic people to notice that it is falling apart.
And on the religion front, Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette reports:
The Roman Catholic Womenpriests Community ordained eight priests and four deacons yesterday in a ceremony on a riverboat plying Pittsburgh's three rivers. But the Catholic Church in which the women claim a role says that by participating in the ceremony they have excommunicated themselves.
This is the fourth such group ordained worldwide since 2002, and the first in the U.S. Although a clear violation of Roman Catholic canon law, Patricia Fresen, a bishop in Roman Catholic Womenpriests, compared their movement to the anti-apartheid movement. "I am utterly convinced that our ordinations are totally valid," she said. "Although they break [canon] law, we believe we are breaking an unjust law. I come from South Africa. We learned from Nelson Mandela and others that if a law is unjust, it must be changed. ... If you cannot change it, you must break it.”
These folks are, of course, trying to make a point for feminism and political correctness. Such actions mean very little to Bible believers. The following comments by R. L. Dabney on why Paul excluded women from preaching are good enough for me:
"Not one of [the reasons Paul gives for forbidding women to preach] is personal, local, or temporary. Nor does he say that woman must not preach in public because he regards her as less pious, less zealous, less eloquent, less learned, less brave, or less intellectual, than man.
"In the advocates of woman's right to this function there is a continual tendency to a confusion of thought, as though the apostle, when he says that woman must not do what man does, meant to disparage her sex. This is a sheer mistake. His reasoning will be searched in vain for any disparagement of the qualities and virtues of that sex; and we may at this place properly disclaim all such intention also.
"Woman is excluded from this masculine task of public preaching by Paul, not because she is inferior to man, but simply because her Maker has ordained for her another work which is incompatible with this.
"So he might have pronounced, as nature does, that she shall not sing bass, not because he thought the bass chords the more beautiful—perhaps he thought the pure alto of the feminine throat far the sweeter—but because her very constitution fits her for the latter part in the concert of human existence, and therefore unfits her for the other, the coarser and less melodious part." [Taken from "The Public Preaching of Women," in Discussions: Evangelical and Theological, 3 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1967 reprint), 2:109-110.]
Maranatha!
Arjay
Interestingly, the media has demonstrated in its coverage of both events its own utter bankruptcy—to say nothing of its growing useless. Their obsessed fixation with the stories of two people who had basically no influence on our society needs to be contrasted with the fact it barely flinched at a Muslim gunman from Bosnia who killed 5 people in a Utah mall. This act of terrorism was mostly ignored, and that is a significant reason why we will likely suffer another 9-11 type attack. Our culture is too deep in celebrating plastic people to notice that it is falling apart.
And on the religion front, Pittsburgh’s Post-Gazette reports:
The Roman Catholic Womenpriests Community ordained eight priests and four deacons yesterday in a ceremony on a riverboat plying Pittsburgh's three rivers. But the Catholic Church in which the women claim a role says that by participating in the ceremony they have excommunicated themselves.
This is the fourth such group ordained worldwide since 2002, and the first in the U.S. Although a clear violation of Roman Catholic canon law, Patricia Fresen, a bishop in Roman Catholic Womenpriests, compared their movement to the anti-apartheid movement. "I am utterly convinced that our ordinations are totally valid," she said. "Although they break [canon] law, we believe we are breaking an unjust law. I come from South Africa. We learned from Nelson Mandela and others that if a law is unjust, it must be changed. ... If you cannot change it, you must break it.”
These folks are, of course, trying to make a point for feminism and political correctness. Such actions mean very little to Bible believers. The following comments by R. L. Dabney on why Paul excluded women from preaching are good enough for me:
"Not one of [the reasons Paul gives for forbidding women to preach] is personal, local, or temporary. Nor does he say that woman must not preach in public because he regards her as less pious, less zealous, less eloquent, less learned, less brave, or less intellectual, than man.
"In the advocates of woman's right to this function there is a continual tendency to a confusion of thought, as though the apostle, when he says that woman must not do what man does, meant to disparage her sex. This is a sheer mistake. His reasoning will be searched in vain for any disparagement of the qualities and virtues of that sex; and we may at this place properly disclaim all such intention also.
"Woman is excluded from this masculine task of public preaching by Paul, not because she is inferior to man, but simply because her Maker has ordained for her another work which is incompatible with this.
"So he might have pronounced, as nature does, that she shall not sing bass, not because he thought the bass chords the more beautiful—perhaps he thought the pure alto of the feminine throat far the sweeter—but because her very constitution fits her for the latter part in the concert of human existence, and therefore unfits her for the other, the coarser and less melodious part." [Taken from "The Public Preaching of Women," in Discussions: Evangelical and Theological, 3 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1967 reprint), 2:109-110.]
Maranatha!
Arjay
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Two Super Sundays
Losers and Winners
“The town is deserted!” exclaimed Roy as he arrived for our Sunday evening meeting. Highways carried midnight level traffic, restaurants were deserted--Chicagoland is the nation’s largest football market and they were tuned in to their Bears as they played in Super Bowl XLI.
By game time it had already been a long day. Our two morning services (on the coldest weekend in almost two years) were great times of fellowship, study and encouragement. Afterward we had an “envelope stuffing party” and our monthly Grace School of the Bible student meeting.
By game time our “super Sunday” group had gathered around the big screen TV in the teen room. The food was abundant, spirits high; everything was ready. We had planned this primarily as a teen event, but it turned out that many others attended! We did have our evening Bible study (we never call off services!) and in the end it was disappointing that da Bears lost. But I couldn’t help but marvel at the specialness of the evening. Teens, young couples, families, mid-lifers, older saints, folks struggling with life’s problems, even a newly arrived puppy! all gathered to enjoy the time together: as saints; as family. These type social settings allow us to enjoy just who we are: the household of God!
The previous Sunday had also been a super Sunday as we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. We have come to enjoy this time of congregational communion in a very special way. Rather than having the usual Protestant form of service appended to a morning service—what someone has called “the Nazarene Nibble” and “the Lord’s Snack”—we have an actually “Lord’s supper,” that is, a fellowship meal that belongs to the Lord.
For more information about the doctrinal thinking behind this you can read my handout Rethinking The Lord’s Supper or listen to the message here. The point here is that it is a special time of congregational fellowship. We eat together but our table-talk is focused on what the Lord is doing in our lives. That Sunday our time together was very special as table after table shared how the Lord was working in their lives. The testimony time alone took over 90 minutes!
“I never knew that about you;” “We had never met before and it is great to be able to really get to know you;” “I made some new friends today and we already feel like we have known each other for years!” These type comments could be heard as we departed. You see, we share the same journey, the same life in Christ Jesus!
One of the grand privileges of the fellowship of the local church is to provide for the saints “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:19). There is always the danger of learning the truths of God’s Word but never moving to a level where you know the love of Christ in a way that goes beyond knowledge—where it takes root in you life and bears fruits that demonstrates wisdom, appreciation and a deeper awareness of and sensitivity to our position in Christ.
Learning experiences with the Lord that come through His Word prepare us to move into relational experiences with one another through “the fellowship of the gospel.” These in turn prepare us to “bring grace to life” and the world about us.
“The town is deserted!” exclaimed Roy as he arrived for our Sunday evening meeting. Highways carried midnight level traffic, restaurants were deserted--Chicagoland is the nation’s largest football market and they were tuned in to their Bears as they played in Super Bowl XLI.
By game time it had already been a long day. Our two morning services (on the coldest weekend in almost two years) were great times of fellowship, study and encouragement. Afterward we had an “envelope stuffing party” and our monthly Grace School of the Bible student meeting.
By game time our “super Sunday” group had gathered around the big screen TV in the teen room. The food was abundant, spirits high; everything was ready. We had planned this primarily as a teen event, but it turned out that many others attended! We did have our evening Bible study (we never call off services!) and in the end it was disappointing that da Bears lost. But I couldn’t help but marvel at the specialness of the evening. Teens, young couples, families, mid-lifers, older saints, folks struggling with life’s problems, even a newly arrived puppy! all gathered to enjoy the time together: as saints; as family. These type social settings allow us to enjoy just who we are: the household of God!
The previous Sunday had also been a super Sunday as we celebrated the Lord’s Supper. We have come to enjoy this time of congregational communion in a very special way. Rather than having the usual Protestant form of service appended to a morning service—what someone has called “the Nazarene Nibble” and “the Lord’s Snack”—we have an actually “Lord’s supper,” that is, a fellowship meal that belongs to the Lord.
For more information about the doctrinal thinking behind this you can read my handout Rethinking The Lord’s Supper or listen to the message here. The point here is that it is a special time of congregational fellowship. We eat together but our table-talk is focused on what the Lord is doing in our lives. That Sunday our time together was very special as table after table shared how the Lord was working in their lives. The testimony time alone took over 90 minutes!
“I never knew that about you;” “We had never met before and it is great to be able to really get to know you;” “I made some new friends today and we already feel like we have known each other for years!” These type comments could be heard as we departed. You see, we share the same journey, the same life in Christ Jesus!
One of the grand privileges of the fellowship of the local church is to provide for the saints “to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge” (Eph. 3:19). There is always the danger of learning the truths of God’s Word but never moving to a level where you know the love of Christ in a way that goes beyond knowledge—where it takes root in you life and bears fruits that demonstrates wisdom, appreciation and a deeper awareness of and sensitivity to our position in Christ.
Learning experiences with the Lord that come through His Word prepare us to move into relational experiences with one another through “the fellowship of the gospel.” These in turn prepare us to “bring grace to life” and the world about us.
Saturday, February 3, 2007
DA BEARS!!
It’s the food, stupid!
Ok, I know this isn’t a sports blog, but come on—it’s the Super Bowl and it’s da Bears!
My prediction? Well, they say defense wins games…so Da Bears. But, Peyton is an amazing superstar…so the Colts. Both teams have good running games; two good coaches…a wash. But we can’t forget the Man who rode into town on a colt….and then there’s the fact that Colts are much faster than Bears, but if a Bear can catch a Colt it may well have a tasty dinner—but how often do ya hear of people eating Bear meat?
So….I think the most reliable suggestion I have heard is that it really comes down to two things: uniforms and food.
Here it’s really easy: Da Bears! They’ll be wearing their dark blue jerseys with matching helmets. Very intimidating.
Then there is the food: again, Da Bears! What is Chicago known for? Deep-dish pizza, what else. Now ask yourself: What food is Indianapolis known for? As a nonresident but repeat visitor, my answer would have probably have been the Pork Tenderloin sandwich. (I take mine deep fried, overflowing the bun by a good inch all the way around, with fries and a Dr. Pepper.) A more research minded friend, however, did a Google search on it and the number one response was White Castle hamburgers. Now I must confess to having enjoyed a “slider” or two (or six), but can you really compare them with deep-dish pizza? It just doesn’t compute.
So, if you need a prediction for how the big game should come out: Da Bears. If that isn’t sound enough reasoning, you’ll just have to watch the game for yourself. By the way, we’ll be in church during that time. We are studying the Book of Galatians on Sunday evening. That’s the best food being served for that time slot.
Maranatha!
Arjay
Ok, I know this isn’t a sports blog, but come on—it’s the Super Bowl and it’s da Bears!
My prediction? Well, they say defense wins games…so Da Bears. But, Peyton is an amazing superstar…so the Colts. Both teams have good running games; two good coaches…a wash. But we can’t forget the Man who rode into town on a colt….and then there’s the fact that Colts are much faster than Bears, but if a Bear can catch a Colt it may well have a tasty dinner—but how often do ya hear of people eating Bear meat?
So….I think the most reliable suggestion I have heard is that it really comes down to two things: uniforms and food.
Here it’s really easy: Da Bears! They’ll be wearing their dark blue jerseys with matching helmets. Very intimidating.
Then there is the food: again, Da Bears! What is Chicago known for? Deep-dish pizza, what else. Now ask yourself: What food is Indianapolis known for? As a nonresident but repeat visitor, my answer would have probably have been the Pork Tenderloin sandwich. (I take mine deep fried, overflowing the bun by a good inch all the way around, with fries and a Dr. Pepper.) A more research minded friend, however, did a Google search on it and the number one response was White Castle hamburgers. Now I must confess to having enjoyed a “slider” or two (or six), but can you really compare them with deep-dish pizza? It just doesn’t compute.
So, if you need a prediction for how the big game should come out: Da Bears. If that isn’t sound enough reasoning, you’ll just have to watch the game for yourself. By the way, we’ll be in church during that time. We are studying the Book of Galatians on Sunday evening. That’s the best food being served for that time slot.
Maranatha!
Arjay
Friday, February 2, 2007
Busyness and Blessing
There is an old warning about the “bareness of busyness.” Well, I have had a busy week or more, but it hasn’t been barren!
The recent Bible conference in Plant City, Florida was an outstanding time. We were in a new location this year, moving from the Orlando area to the Tampa area. The facility was the best venue we have had in the past two decades! We didn’t know how attendance would hold up with the new location, but it was fine.
The brethren in Florida continue to demonstrate the spiritual growth and maturity that grace edification brings. It continues to be a really bright spot for the message of grace. And these guys can really preach the Word! When the messages get up on the web, I’ll link to them so you can enjoy the good preaching. We had folks in attendance from a wide variety of states—for example, one couple came from Minnesota (they first learned about right division through our TV program on DirectTV). This would be a great meeting to make in ’08.
While in Florida, Cynthia and I stayed a couple extra days with David and Stacy to spend time with our youngest two grandchildren. Nathan (2 years old) and Bryant (1 year) are doing well, growing and developing their own personalities. Like their dad, their biggest problem is being kin to their father—whose lineage goes all the way back to Adam (Rom. 5:12). We are praying they will get saved at an early age.
I had the opportunity to plan golf with Larry, Tim and Hal on Monday. Larry and Tim are real golfers; Hal and I are sort of on the “duffer” side. But Hal has been practicing and he had the hole of the day. After a really big drive, he drove the green across a rather large pond and then made the put for birdie. I was glad I was riding in his cart! Larry was glad they weren’t wagering anything on the hole. That evening I spoke for Pastor Fred Bekemeyer at his Monday night Bible study. Had a great time finishing the study on Gideon.
I also had an opportunity to go boat riding out of Tampa on Tuesday. But—when my wife heard about it, she “suggested” I would rather spend the day with the boys. It was, naturally, a much better choice. That evening Fred Bekemeyer’s nephew Andrew, who works for the Orlando Magic, offered us tickets to the game against the Mavericks. Honestly, I hadn’t been to a basket ball game since my own sons graduated High school. For me, it is about as interesting as watching paint dry. We went anyway, figuring it was a “once in a lifetime” sort of thing. Fred, his brother Jonathan (another pastor friend I hadn’t seen in several year’s) and I watched the Mav’s really put a beating on the Magic, but I must confess that it was really interesting being there in person. I could easily become a regular….sort of scary. Anyway, I noticed on the news Thursday that the Mavericks played the Chicago Bulls Wednesday. The Bulls won.
At noon on Wednesday I spoke at the Community Bible Church’s noon Bible study. We got home Wednesday evening just before midnight. Thursday I did radio—our regular weekly program for Chicago, four more for the weekly school stations and ten for Daily Bible Time. That was a long day. We get hundreds of contacts each month from the radio and TV programs. A lady called while I was gone exclaiming how excited she was about learning the message of grace. She had given over $50,000 to her church while her own children were going without necessities, just so she could pay her tithe. Learning that she was free from such extortionary bondage had her so thrilled she could hardly contain herself as she talked to Debbie on the phone. Those are the blessings that make the long hours worthwhile.
We had the Lord’s Supper at church on Sunday. We have come to observe the Lord’s Table in a rather different and unique way. Rather than have a little service after the regular service, we actually have a meal together. I am going to post a brief study on this on our web site if you are interest in the doctrinal thinking behind this. You can also listen to the message explaining what we do entitled, “Rethinking The Lord’s Supper.” It has turned into a really wonderful time of fellowship for our congregation. Our attendance has been good, even when I am gone. With Alex preaching, it’s like folks don’t even notice I’m not there!
Anyway, that about catches up on last week. This week has been more catch up and pastoral duties. Lots of folks are sick lately; so many are hurting. I have long said that folks don’t come in the door whole. They come in broken, burdened, bruised and bewildered. But the gospel of grace and the Word rightly divided have the answer. God doesn’t want our perfection—if had wanted perfection, He would have stayed in heaven! He provides perfection for us in Christ Jesus. What He wants from us is our trust. It’s our faith, resting in an intelligent understanding of His Word to us, that releases the power of the life of Christ in us so it can live out through us for His glory. That’s the GraceLife!
By the way, I was especially encouraged to begin this blog through the influence of a friend in Florida, Pastor Glen Caneel. Glen is a graduate of Grace School of the Bible and is leading a genuinely forward-looking new church in Plantation, Florida. He has his own blog you should check out. Tell him I sent you!g
Oh, and I can’t forget: Go Bears!
Maranatha!
Arjay
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