The Beauty Of The Cross: 19 Objections & Answers On Penal Substitutionary Atonement: That said, I do want to engage some of the broadly theological objections against it, as well as correct popular caricatures of the doctrine along the way. I have to say that a number of the issues that people have with penal substitution are quite understandable when you consider some of the silliness that passes for biblical preaching on the subject in popular contexts. Those who affirm the doctrine as true and beautiful do our hearers no benefit when we defend misshapen, caricatured versions of the doctrine. I’ll try to do my best to avoid that in what follows.

7 Marks Of A Deeply Deadly Sin: Not all sin is the same. While every sin places you under the wrath of God, and while any sin is sufficient to create an eternal chasm between God and man, not every sin is identical. In chapter 9 of his work Overcoming Sin and Temptation, John Owen wants you to think about that besetting sin in your life to consider if it is an “ordinary” sin, or if it is one that is particularly deadly and that, therefore, requires something more than the usual pattern of putting sin to death. The deadliness of a sin is not related so much to the category of that sin, but to how deeply-rooted it is in your life, and to how you have responded to God as he has revealed it to you.

Preparing For Sunday Worship: We count preaching as significant, so we expect our pastor will prepare his sermon before he enters the pulpit. We consider worship songs important, so we expect our music teams, pianists, and organists will appropriately prepare before sitting down at their instruments. We believe our engagement in corporate worship is essential, so we should also expect to prepare even as we expect the pastor and musicians to prepare for their participation in the Sunday morning service. How can you prepare for worship? Here are a few ideas.

3 Tips For Discipling You Kids Through Halloween: Halloween seems to be the one holiday in American Christianity that we just don’t know what to do with. We are happy to celebrate cultural or historical holidays like the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving, or New Year’s Day. We love religious holidays like Easter and Christmas. But Halloween… Halloween has quite a mixed history, and so we don’t know how to approach it.

What Led You To Become An Atheist? Some Surprising Answers: What leads people away from religion and into atheism? That’s the question that fascinated Larry Taunton so much that he launched a nationwide series of interviews with hundreds of college-age atheists. His question was simple: “What led you to become an atheist?” The answers were surprising, creating a completely unexpected composite sketch of American college-aged atheists. Here’s a summary from his article.

Why Do We Anoint With Oil?: Since the oil was used in both medicinal and sacramental contexts, we at Living Stones have to keep in mind both common grace (which benefits all mankind) and special grace (which is for God’s people), if you will. We acknowledge and respect the medical community, and we believe that God works through the means of the common grace of our doctors. (James tips his hat towards the medical community, in my opinion). Yet, in prayer, we go before God, requesting that he do a miracle, something supernatural in healing the people of Living Stones. When we do this, we are asking for a special grace.

The State Of Theology: New Findings On America's Theological Health: Earlier this year, Ligonier Ministries commissioned a survey of 3,000 Americans in partnership with LifeWay Research. The survey quantified Americans’ theological knowledge and awareness. A combination of true and false statements was used to test participants. The survey addressed core doctrinal topics and issues, such as the Bible, salvation, God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, sin, the Trinity, man, hell, and the nature of the church. In our desire to serve the church in fulfilling the Great Commission, these findings help to point out common gaps in theological knowledge and awareness so that Christians might be more effective in the proclamation, teaching, and defense of the essential truths of the Christian faith.

The Evil In North Korea: That brings us to the most important thing we can do as Christians. “The real business of your life as a saved soul,” Oswald Chambers wrote a century ago, “is intercessory prayer.” If, as Asia specialist Minxin Pei observes, “No modern authoritarian dynastic regime has succeeded in passing power to the third generation,” then the Kim dynasty isn’t long for this world. Perhaps our prayers can push it over the edge.

One Trait That Set Apart The Earliest Christians: But in the second century, as Christianity emerged with a distinctive religious identity, the surrounding pagan culture began to take notice. And it didn’t like what it saw. Christians were seen as strange and superstitious—a peculiar religious movement that undermined the norms of decent society. Christians were, well, different.

The Most Neglected Part Of The Pastor's Job Description: The most significant yet unused disciple making resource we have in our churches are the older, faithful women among us. It’s to our shame if as pastors we don’t have a strategy for investing in them and seeing them invest in others. But it will be for our joy and for the church’s strength if we do.

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Look And Live: From one who bears the fang-shaped scar, I urge you this weekend to attend corporate worship not merely to sing or merely to listen, but to look — to gaze. Look and live.

You Can't Catch Sin Like A Cold: So, when we are around obvious sin, those people and places, we can’t catch their sin. We can choose their sin, but that is a matter of decision, of belief, of theology. If we hold fast to Jesus there is no risk of that sin invisibly taking hold of us like a flu bug might. How freeing! We no longer have to keep our distance or live in cultural quarantine. We can engage those people with grace and freedom without fear. Because we are near Jesus we can be near to anyone without fear that they will make us more like them than like Him.

Theological Impatience: Theological impatience is one of the most troubling features of our generation. Examples of impatience in everyday life abound – measuring your progress against that of the person in the adjacent supermarket queue, tutting at the slowness of a microwave dinner – but far more inisidious is the way this everyday impatience now manifests itself in the way we do theology. Assuming, as we are often told, “the means is the message” (that is, the physical way in which you communicate something forms an important part of what you communicate), we would expect that: if theology is done in blog comments and tweets and Facebook posts, then it would be surprising if that did not make us theologically impatient.

Biblical verses Systematic Theology?: This is what gives Systematic Theology its finality. Biblical Theology asks, What did the patriarchs say, or Moses, or the prophets or Paul or John? Systematic Theology asks, What does the Bible say?

What Is The 'Abomination of Desolation'?: A wise preacher dealing with this passage may find particular value in focusing on this point. When Jesus gives instruction concerning future events, his purpose is not to satiate our curiosity or answer all or our speculative questions. Instead, his purpose is to protect and guide and instruct his people. Jesus gave relatively little attention to the question "When?" and much toward the question "How shall we live faithfully?" Preaching on such texts today should be shaped by Jesus’ concern for the welfare and endurance of his church.

Christianity Is Not Going Away: The quiet religious revival in New York City is mostly below the radar screen. But it showcases how Christendom, although it ebbs and flows, after 1700 or so years, is not going away.

Friendless Millennials In A Digital Age: She is hitting the nail square on its head. Young people vaguely know about stuff, but they often do not truly know those around them. Much of that comes from our connectedness on the Internet, and specifically social media.

A Failure Of Worship: The addict is not merely following deeply-ingrained habits and physical desires, but seeking the escstasy of worship. The problem is not the desire to worship—we are created to be worshippers—but the idolatrous object of that worship. The addict looks elsewhere—anywhere—for what can be found only in God. The addict’s foremost failure is a failure of worship.

Should We Kiss Evangelism Goodbye?: What my dad and mom thought about me as I was growing up meant a lot. Their thoughts and opinions could crush or lift me in a moment. The truth is that we seek approval from others all the time. As you get to know someone, you might pick up that they need to hear the gospel of adoption, that God the Father offers an undying approval in his Son Jesus. This can radically change people’s view of God, and thrill them with the hope of a Father’s love. Don’t kiss your evangelism goodbye; just give it a facelift.

Kids And Missional Communities - Family Meals: Sometimes families feel like they shouldn’t hold their Family Meal on Sundays, since we’ve already done one church event that day. But there’s no such thing as too much church family on one day, and many of our Missional Communities have found great success with a Family Meal that starts at 5pm on Sundays.

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Following Blog Post by Greg Sund

Once upon a time, there was a young man, who we will call Greg .... Greg Sund.  He was wretched and sinful and wicked, but still God pursued him, because God is good.  In 2001, by God’s grace, Greg was saved and gave his life to Christ.  Greg had been born and raised as a Catholic but had walked away from the Catholic church in college.  He had been baptized as a baby, but had no recollection of consenting to this.

Years later, around 2006 or 2007, Greg was reading through and studying the book of Acts.  And he noticed something.  A pattern.  It seemed that as the early church was getting started, a person would profess faith in Jesus Christ’s atoning death and in His resurrection, and then that person would be baptized.  And so, Greg was convicted.  It seemed after further study of the New Testament, that baptism was something that professing believers are called to.  All the theological details of why, how, when, were still a little foggy, but nonetheless, Greg felt God’s call to be baptized .... again. 

And so, after moving to Bellingham, WA and joining a church that cares about baptism, he was baptized in Lake Whatcom in 2009. 

Yes, this story, is in fact my story.  I have since this time learned a lot about baptism, and so I am writing this to help you (my church family) better understand what baptism is and what it is not. 

Redeemer is a church that holds God’s word as the ultimate authority for how we are to live as follower’s of Jesus.  And so we look to the bible to answer any question one might have about baptism.  So what does the bible tell us?  First of all, it tells us that baptism is a big deal.  A very big deal.

So, why should one be baptized? 

Romans 6:3-4 tells us that baptism is a symbol of our union with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection: “Do you know that all of us who have been baptized with Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life”. 

Colossians 2:12 says you were “buried with him in baptism in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.”

So here in Romans 6 and Colossians 2 we have a clear emphasis on baptism as symbol of our union with Christ in His death and resurrection.  There is also biblical reference to baptism as an expression of the cleansing and purification from sin (see Acts 22:16), but the primary emphasis seems to be on dying and rising.

Okay, but why else should one be baptized? 

Because Jesus commanded his disciples to go and to baptize, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19).  Jesus recognized baptism as so important that he included it in the Great Commission!  If you are a follower of Jesus, this is your purpose statement for life, and step 1 involves you yourself being baptized.

Okay, but what does baptism do? 

Well, first of all it does NOT determine your salvation.  Jesus told the dying thief on the cross “Today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).  Just as baptism was not a prerequisite for salvation for the thief, neither is it for you.  We hold to the doctrine of justification by grace through faith as expressed in Galatians 2:16.  But those of us who have committed our lives to obedience to Jesus Christ, are also called to be baptized and to baptize others as an outward expression of our inward regeneration. 

Who should be baptized? 

We at Redeemer hold to the doctrine of “Believers Baptism”.  This means that only those who are able to give a believable profession of faith should be baptized (see Acts 2:41, Acts 8:12, Acts 10: 44-48, Acts 16:14-15, Acts 16:32-33 and 1 Corinthians 1:16).  All of these passages follow a pattern of one receiving His word, THEN being baptized.  There are many who hold to other views in this particular area, most notably the paedobaptist view.  For those believers and those churches who hold to this view, we still love you and would never argue that you are not saved.  But we as a church ask anyone who desires to be baptized to be able to give a believable profession of faith before taking the plunge, because we believe this pattern is most consistent with scripture.

So, what happens when I get baptized? 

Baptism is a means of grace for the believer and for the local church.  The public act of confessing Jesus as Savior brings joy and blessing to the believer.  It also increases our faith and increases our experiential realization of death to the power and love of sin in our lives.  As well, it increases our experience of the power of new resurrection life in Christ that we have as believers.

Baptism also blesses the local church.  It gives additional assurance of union with Christ to all believers who are present, it is an occasion of celebration in Jesus for the church, and the Lord gives us baptism to strengthen and encourage our faith for every believer who witnesses this. 

And the ultimate reason why we get baptized is this:  baptism brings glory to God.  We are a people who delight in God and who who delight to see Him magnified and the act of baptism does exactly that, it magnifies the goodness and glory of God as expressed through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

There is much more that I could say about baptism, but I suspect if I go on, you will stop reading. So, if anyone has questions about baptism or would like to talk about getting baptized, please don’t hesitate to contact your GC leader or one of the elders or deacons of Redeemer.

To God be the Glory!

 

The Church 24/7:

Being in community isn't about going to an event each week, it is about life on life intentional discipleship with one another. But if you don't understand the gospel and its implications then joining a community will feel more like a duty than an enriching privilege.  

The Gospel:

“In its simplest form, the gospel is God’s reconciling work in Christ – that through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ, God is making all things new both personally for those who repent and believe, and cosmically as He redeems culture and creation from its subjection to futility.” - Matt Chandler

This gospel (good news) is the only truth that brings us together as Christians, it is the only truth that we gather around together, it is the only truth that calls us to give our lives for. The gospel is the objective reality that Jesus Christ came, He lived perfectly, He died our death and He rose from the grave to show off who He said he is. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and it is because of this glorious gospel that we can even call ourselves Christians.

You see first and for most, the gospel is not primarily about you but it is about God and what he is doing to restore the world back to himself. It is because of the beautiful gospel that we are able to rightly view the world, ourselves and also the communities that we are apart of.

Love For God Drives The Love For People:

Loving God is not an obligation that we have, for through the work of the gospel we grow by grace more in love with God through the empowering of the Holy Spirit. For the Holy Spirit's job is to teach, train, transform us into the things of Christ. "When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority...He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you (John 16:13-14)." Our love for God comes from God, our love for others comes from God. It is God's purpose to produce in His children genuine love, love that is not fleeting or fake but love that is true and everlasting. 

As fallen humans we can not truly orchestrate within ourselves a love for God and a love for others. If you are personally trying to love God out of your own obedience and not through the perfect obedience Christ worked on your behalf, you will truly be crushed. "For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)." Our love for God and love for others must be in response to God's grace in Jesus Christ. We cannot produce pure love for God and others, this type of pure love only comes from God and His desire is to change us to love like He loves us. 

Gospel Driven Community:

If you are a Christian, being a part of a community is biblical. How they look may vary by location, but over all God knows that we need community, and that is one of the reasons God orchestrated the church to come about. The Author wrote to the Hebrews, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Hebrews 10:24-25)." In this passage the author is addressing Christians and he is stating that as Christians we should not neglect meeting together regularly because we are put in community to encourage and strengthen one another.

Sinclair Ferguson says it well about the importance of community, "We are not saved individually and then choose to join the church as if it were some club or support group. Christ died for his people and we are saved when by faith we become part of the people for whom Christ died." The reason we constantly emphasize people to join a Gospel Community is because we truly believe that as Christians we were saved into a community. Community is where our discipleship in Jesus is worked out. Community is a place of safety, a place to share life together, a place to grow more in love with God and people.

The gospel has restored us to God and made us His sons and daughters, heirs to God and fellow heirs with Christ. Through the work of Jesus in the gospel, we get to be devoted to one another as family because Jesus devoted Himself to us. As a family of people saved by Jesus, Jesus now sends us on mission, just as Jesus was sent by the Father but we get to be sent on mission together and not alone. Gospel communities are built on the truth of the gospel that saves and restores people to God and brings them into His family as group of people commissioned by King Jesus to go into the entire world and make disciples of all nations—starting right in our own city and neighborhoods as GCs on mission for Jesus. Gospel Communities is a place where people grow as disciples of Jesus, while growing to make disciples of Jesus. 

Ultimately, this is why we desire for people to join Gospel Communities: to see God work in and through the community of people for His glory and our joy. 

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