The Radical Experiment

At DaySpring Church, we are in the final stages of our study of David Platt’s book, Radical. The last chapter of the book calls for readers to accept a challenge called “The Radical Experiment.” Over the next year, readers are asked to make a commitment to…

1.     Pray for the entire world

2.     Read through the entire Word

3.     Sacrifice your money for a specific purpose

4.     Spend your time in another context

5.     Commit your life to a multiplying community

If you accept the challenge, you can visit the Radical Experiment site at the web site for Brook Hills for resources that will help – at least for the remainder of 2010. I am not sure they will be there in 2011.

If you prefer your own material for praying for the world, you can purchase Operation World by Jason Mandryk, a terrific tool for carrying out this project. Through the church they are $16.00 each. Contact the church office if you are interested in a copy. Or you can visit www.operationworld.com and accomplish the same challenge.

If you accept the challenge to read through the entire Word in one year, you can visit the Radical Experiment site. Or, if you prefer, here are some web pages where you can download reading plans.

http://www.oneyearbibleonline.com/

http://www.ewordtoday.com/year/

http://www.backtothebible.org/index.php/Bible-Reading-Guides.html

http://www.inallthingspray.net/biblepathway/newuser.asp

You may also like to listen to someone else read while you follow along (especially in light of the challenging names and words in the OT). Here are web sites where you can download or listen to the Bible being read. If you need help with this, contact Pastor Dan or the church office.

http://www.audiotreasure.com/indexKJV.htm

http://bible.cbn.com/

http://www.biblica.com/bibles/audio/niv/

http://www.ffmp3.com/kjv.asp (Recommended)

http://dailyaudiobible.com/

http://godsipod.com/bible_podcasts/audio-bible/

There was no study guide available for Chapter 9, so I created one. You can pick one up at church or download it here.

RadicalStudyGuideCh9

Considering the Mission, Matthew 10

I recently read an article concerning how we should recognize that the Bible is not a series of stories, but actually one story concerning the gospel message. It contained this passage that really goes along with our emphasis on living the call to missions.
 
“…the church is essential to the gospel. That is, Jesus did not make provision for the communication of the good news through history and in every culture until the end of the story by writing a book as did Mohammed. Rather he formed a community to be the bearer of this good news. Their identity is bound up in their being sent by Jesus to make known the good news of the kingdom. The story of the Bible is their life.” (Goheen, Michael W., “Reading the Bible as One Story,” Trinity Western University, Langley, B.C., Canada)

Muslims revere the Quran as Christians do Christ. It is the word of God. They see it as the infallible messenger – revered almost to the point of worship. When it is read in its original language of Arabic, it is not like reading the words of God – it is reading the very words of God. For Muslims, Jesus was simply a messenger in a long line of messengers. Muhammad was the last and greatest messenger. They have no concept of a personal Savior. For them, salvation is “in the book” and in the works it prescribes for those who would join God in eternal bliss.

The Bible says, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Romans 10.17) So we assume that all one has to do is hear or read the Bible. If we print a gazillion Bibles and ship them all over the world, then we don’t have anything to do but wait for it to work its magic and the world will be saved, relieving Christians of the tedious task of “going.”

But to believe this is to ignore context. The same text (Romans 10.13-15) also says, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? How will they preach unless they are sent?”

It isn’t the word of God (the Bible) that saves, but the Word of God (Christ). And the only effective method of communicating the gospel of Christ is for those who know Him personally to “live and move and have our being” among those whose lives we seek to affect. 

The sermon this week addressed this idea.

Sermon 21Nov2010 mp3

Sermon 21Nov2010 Word

Sermon 21Nov2010 pdf

Vindication, Acts 10.1-18

Sermon 14Nov2010 mp3
Sermon 14Nov2010 Word
Sermon 14Nov2010 pdf

Veteran’s Day 2010

I'm not sure when I wrote this poem. I believe it was sometime before I was married (1974). It was published in the Wayne County Press-Sentinel (Jesup, GA), so the date could be verified if someone wanted to take the trouble.

It was written at a time when it seemed that our nation had turned its back on patriotism – when the veterans of the war in Vietnam were treated with so much disrespect by the press and the culture in general. I did not go to war, but that did not make me less the patriot and it did not diminish my respect for those who did go and for those who died or suffered wounds, both physical and psychological.

Now, about 40 years later, I have two sons who are veterans, having served in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Both experienced combat and had their vehicles blown up while they were riding in them, yet both came home with no physical harm.

Just knowing that they were in harm's way makes November 11 mean so much more now, because it's personal. The poem was written during a time of patriotic passion in a young man. It now is simply the memorial from a maturing father to those who served, including those of my own blood.

     Veterans' Parade

With flags unfurled and sound of drum

Down dusty streets the heroes come

Their uniforms of faded hue

Some olive drab and some of blue

From store fronts streams of bunting sway

To mark this celebration day

A day so nobly set aside

To demonstrate a nation's pride

In those who entered in the strife

Some prematurely snatched from life

And those who lived to carry home

The scars of battle the victor's song

What is it we are prone to ask

That makes a man take up the task

Of war – to live with death and pain

Through jungle swamp and desert plain

To sacrifice the fruits of toil

To taste the grit of foreign soil

To suffer death and injury

At the hands of a faceless enemy

An easy answer may ne'er be found

The arguments go round and round

Some say envy lust and greed

Coveting things we do not need

But the evidence it seems to me

Points to love of liberty

At least in these United States

It's love of freedom that motivates

Now hear the band play "Fife and Drum"

As down the street these heroes come

With springing step as if to say

I'm proud to have served the USA.

Revelation Pt. 4, Acts 10.34-48

Sermon 07Nov2010 mp3
Sermon 07Nov2010 Word
Sermon 07Nov2010 pdf

Revelation Part 3

Part three of a sermon series on the encounter between Peter and Cornelius and a continuation of our study through the book of Acts.

Sermon 31Oct2010 mp3
Sermon 31Oct2010 Word
Sermon 31Oct2010 pdf

Why God Created Man

Concerning the reason that God created man, here is an interesting thought.

Sin did not come into existence because of the rebellion of man, but because of the rebellion of Lucifer against God. It did not begin in time, but in eternity.

The plan of Redemption was founded before the foundation of the world (1 Peter 1.18-20). It was determined before man was ever created that Christ would die and shed His blood for reconciliation.

We tend to believe that this plan of reconciliation is only about the relationship between God and man, but Scripture seems to indicate that the reconciliation was about much more than that.

Eph. 1:9-10 (God made) known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Col. 1:20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.

In other words, the death of Christ not only re-established God's sovereign reign in the earth but also in all of eternity. The plan of redemption was about so much more than just making a way for men to be forgiven.

It restored the balance of the Universe set in disarray by the rebellion of Lucifer.

This creation is the method by which the Son became flesh so that He could die for the purpose of reconciliation. God, in His infinite wisdom, knew that this was the only method by which such a reconciliation and restoration of balance could be secured for eternity.

Yet God has not left man out of this equation. He goes on to say that He created men for the purpose of "bringing many sons to glory" (Heb. 2.10). Why would He do that?

Eph. 2:5-7 Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

To whom will God show us? That is a mystery, but maybe it is safe to assume that He would show us to Satan and his followers just before sealing them in hell for eternity, just to prove that He is, in fact, the God of mercy, grace, and love.

Why did God create man? It was for oh so much more than fellowship. By way of the creation of the earth and of man, God instituted His plan of redemption which made way for the Son of God to become flesh and who, by His death and resurrection reconciled, not just the world, but all of eternity to the Father.

Accuracy in Belief

Though I have been a Christian for twelve years, I was raised in church all of my life. Even before I confessed Jesus as Lord of my life I knew the answers to many of the basic questions of Christianity. I even had firm beliefs about some controversial issues, mostly based on what I was taught by my elders and with little reliance on personal study of the Bible.

Since I was saved in 1998, I have endeavored to understand what I believe – or what I ought to believe – by studying the Scriptures first, then reaching a point of belief. It is interesting the things that I have taken for granted for much of my life that are not completely accurate.

For example…

I was taught – and have actually taught others – that God not only forgives our sins; He also forgets them. This was based on an interpretation of particular scripture references (such as Psalm 103:12, Isaiah 43:25, Jeremiah 31:34, Jeremiah 50:20, Micah 7:19, Hebrews 8:12, and Hebrews 10:17). However, these references do not say that God will forget our sins, but that He will "remember them no more." (Let your mouse hover over each reference to read them.)

The word that is translated as "remember" in verses like Hebrews 8:12 and 10:17 is used over twenty times in the New Testament (KJV). In almost every case, it is translated as remember, but in other places it is translated as "being mindful" (2 Tim. 1:4, 2 Peter 3.2) and "make mention" (Heb. 11.22). Strong's Concordance defines the word as "to be recalled or to return to one's mind."

The point is that God does not forget our sins. He makes a willful decision to never call them to mind again. Under the Old Testament economy, the sins of the people were recalled on an annual basis so that the priest could make atonement for them (Heb. 10:3, Ex. 30:10). Under grace, once our sins have been forgiven – cleansed by the blood of the Lamb – God will never again call them to memory.

One way to understand this is to look at places where God said He would remember, such as Gen. 9:14-15, Lev. 26:42, and Ezekiel 16.60. God said, "I will remember my covenant with you." Certainly God had not forgotten the covenant and then searched His memory to see if possibly He could recall it. His intent was to say that He would always keep the covenant that He made with His people in the forefront of His mind. So to "remember not" would not mean to forget, but to intentionally allow our sins to pass out of His elective memory as they are forgiven.

There are a couple of other points that are important here. First, God is omniscient, meaning that He knows all things past, present, and future. There is no knowledge that He does not have – even of our past sins. Secondly, we are not able to forget our sins, so that if God did forget them, then we would have knowledge that God does not have and that is impossible.

This is not a "deal breaker." In other words, if we say that God forgets our sins or that He remembers them no more, the effect is the same. Our sins, once forgiven, will never again enter the conscious memory of God. That is grace.

It is simply a reminder that we need to be careful when interpreting the Bible and not take for granted things we were taught for truth without a thorough search of what "thus saith the Lord."

 

Radical Changes

I am sorry that the links no longer work for the Radical files. I had gotten permission by phone to share the information with church groups and even to upload the files to my blog. Today, I received an email changing that status, so to stay honest, I had to take the files down. We are still able to use them in small groups at DaySpring, but not to share them elsewhere. Oh well...