Friday, September 26, 2008
Basic Theology
The Holy Spirit baptizes every new believer into the Body of Christ. I Cor.12:13 So now let us examine the doctrine of the Church as the Body of Christ. Did the Church exist before Pentecost? No, it did not! Jesus said, "I will build My Church" in Matt.16:18. The Church could not exist before Jesus came into the world since He is the Head of the Body. Ephesians 1:22 Also, until Christ ascended to heaven and sent the Holy Spirit at Pentecost there would be no functioning spiritual gifts in the Body. Ephesians 4:7-12 The Church is distinct from Israel in that now both Jews and Gentiles who trust the Messiah, Jesus Christ, are a "NEW MAN" Eph.2:13-15 and unsaved Jews are still related to Israel which God has temporarily "HARDENED" until He is finished building His Church. Romans 11:25 Presently, individual Jewish people may trust Messiah and be saved the same way we are. Romans 10 What other evidence of this distinction do we have? Paul makes this distinction in his letter to the Corinthians. "Give no offense either to the Jews, or to the Gentiles, or to the church of God." I Cor.10:32 Why is this so important? Because the Church is under a new set of commands than believers were in the Old Testament! We are under the New Covenant, also called the Law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) while Israel was under the Law of Moses.When did Moses end? At the cross! Galatians 3, Romans 10:4 More about what this means next time. pastor Bill
Friday, September 19, 2008
Basic Theology
The doctrine of the Holy Spirit is vital to sound doctrine. The Holy Spirit is God, one of the divine persons, along with the Father and the Son. See Acts 5:3-4 Jesus said that He would send the Spirit at Pentecost and He would teach us and be with us forever. John 14:16-17; John 16:13-15 All believers since Pentecost are permanently indwelt by the Spirit. We are baptized by the Spirit into the Body of Christ at salvation. I Cor.12:13 There is no "second blessing" that we are to expect. All believers have been given at least one spiritual gift but not all have the same one. I Cor.12:30 We are commanded to be filled with the Holy Spirit. Ephesians 5:18 This means the same thing as being "controlled" by the Spirit, "walking" in the Spirit, or simply "obeying" the Spirit. See Galatians 5:16-25 There are some gifts that were given during the days of the Apostles that are no longer operational today. Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the apostles and prophets were the "foundation" of the church. The purpose of these gifts were to authenticate the Gospel message before the N.T. scriptures were written. Now that the Gospel has been established and we have a complete Bible these gifts are no longer needed just as a builder does not need to lay a foundation on the 21 st floor of a building. We have all the spiritual gifts Christ desires us to have to build each other up. Appreciate your gift but remember to evaluate your spiritual growth by the "FRUIT" of the Spirit and not by giftedness! See Galatians 5:22-23 pastor Bill
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Basic Theology
We have discussed two of the three important doctrines which do not conform to human logic: The Trinity and the Dual Nature of Christ (that He has both a human and a Divine nature). We called these "paradoxes" because they seem to be contradictory yet the Bible teaches them. The third is the doctrine of Election and Human Free Will. Divine Election teaches that God has chosen certain individuals to salvation and predestined them to be conformed to the character of His Son Jesus Christ. Ephesians 1:4-5; Romans 8:29-30 However, we are also responsible to receive the gift of salvation by faith. Romans 10:9-10 We must accept both as true and live with the tension since as I said before, this is illogical. We must not assume that because God elected some to be saved that He elected the rest to be lost. God has not "elected" anyone to be lost! They choose that fate on their own and they are responsible before God because He provided for everyone! John 3:16 The other error is to say that we play no role at all. Faith may be a gift but it does not precede regeneration by the Holy Spirit. If you played no role in Salvation then Ephesians 2:8-9 would read: "By election are you saved through doing nothing" but it says: "By grace are you saved through faith" and we must come by faith before we can even know about election. Both are true! Live with it! pastor Bill
Friday, September 12, 2008
Basic Theology
Why is our security in Christ a big deal? Because Jesus is calling us to take big risks in following Him! He wants us to know that we belong to Him and can never be condemned so that we can serve Him without any fear. So what is there for us who leave everything to follow Him? Great reward! Read Matt.19: 27-30 and I Cor.3:10-15 and consider all the passages that mention "crowns" for the faithful disciple. Remember that Heaven or Eternal Life is a free gift not a reward! John 5:24, Ephesians 2:8-9 All believers go to heaven but not all believers will hear, "Well done, good and faithful servant!" The word "crown" in Greek is Stephanos which can also mean wreath. Just as the winners of Roman chariot races came up to receive a laural wreath from the Emperor we will stand at the Bema (a raised platform) seat of Christ (II Cor.5:10) and receive crowns which are earned rewards for faithful service. Please look at the five different Crowns you may receive in these passages: "Joy" I Thess.2:19; "Righteousness: II Timothy 4:8; "Life" James 1:12; "Glory" I Peter 5:4; "Imperishable" I Cor.9:25. Only Christ will wear the Royal Crown (Diadem) but you can wear these crowns (Stephanos) and when we receive them we will cast them at the feet of Jesus and worship Him! Its all about Him, trusting and serving Him! Revelation 4:10-11; Revelation 5:12-14 Wow! Casting Crowns is Biblical! pastor, Bill
Friday, September 5, 2008
Basic Theology
The fact that we are secure in Christ and cannot lose salvation does not mean we have a free pass to sin. Romans 6 makes that plain. The practical benefit to believers is that we can climb higher in our journey of spiritual growth without fear of falling , much like a climber who is secured by a safety rope. Yes, we all sin as believers. John explains that we have immediate cleansing through the blood of Christ if we confess our sins. I John 1:7-9 But what about deliberate serious sin and no confession of it? If we cannot lose salvation then what can we lose? God will gently discipline us when we stray but He will allow severe loss if we persist to the point of rebellion! Was Jonah saved? Of course he was! But look at what God allowed to happen! When we rebel against the known will of God we lose fellowship with God, fellowship with other believers, and a sense of inner peace. We also lose opportunities to serve Christ and the future rewards He promises. We can even lose assurance of our salvation. True believers might "feel" lost because they are "grieving the Spirit of God". Finally God may take us home early! Yes! That is what is called the "sin unto death". I John 5:16-17; I Cor.11:30 where "sleep" means death! So let me ask you, "Don't we have a good reason to press on to maturity? Hebrews 6:1 We have both strong encouragement and strong warning to "live out our salvation" in fear and trembling. We are bought with a price! We are not our own! God saved us for a purpose and that is to glorify Him! I Cor.6:19 For those who insist that we can lose salvation I would ask, "What can you possibly accomplish for God by your own merits?" John 15:5 But through Christ we can do all things! Phil.4:13 Next time we will discuss "Rewards". Even though every thing good we do is by His power and grace God promises rewards for those who love Him! Hebrews 11:6 See you next time! Bill
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
Basic Theology
Last week we talked about "imputed righteousness" which is one of the results of trusting Christ as Savior. What this means is that in Christ we have a new standing before God which is total righteousness. God's own righteousness is credited to our account! Have you ever checked your bank account when you have an automatic draft from your employer? Like magic your full paycheck has been credited to your account! Have you checked your spiritual account lately? According to Romans 4:1-5 and 4:22, 5:17-19 all believers have God's own righteousness credited to their accounts. This is the only way we can have fellowship with God and the only basis by which anyone goes to heaven! And of course this is all made possible by Jesus who shed His blood in our place. Now we must establish the doctrine of "security" which flows naturally out of the firm foundation of trusting Christ. Those that believe that a true believer can lose salvation cite passages that speak about obedience in discipleship and not about salvation at all. While there are numerous scriptures that teach security the central passage is Romans 8:29-39 where Paul lists 4 reasons why a born again believer can never lose salvation. The first is found in v.30 which says that ALL who are justified (saved), will also be glorified! The second is found in v.32 in which Paul argues that because God already gave His best, His Son, He will certainly complete all His promises. The third reason is that Christ Himself defends us against any and every charge against us! v.33-34 along with Hebrews 7:25 and I John 2:1 make this a solid case.Finally the love of God will never let us, His dear children, go! Read those final verses v.35-39 which list every thing including our own selves. God's love is so strong that nothing in all creation can ever separate us from Him. Since all of these promises depend on God's faithfulness we are absolutely secure in Him.
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