What Does the Scripture Say?

Here’s the message on the incarnation I preached last Sunday. The text was 1 Timothy 3:16 “By common confession, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh”. May the Lord bless the truths contained therein and may He cause men to overlook the errors contained therein.

 1 Timothy 3:16: Downloads 896

This year at the 2007 National Education Association Convention America’s public school teachers will be receiving thousands of free Bible-based creation oriented books and DVDs! I hope you will join me in praising the Lord for this tremendous outreach that He has created for Answers in Genesis at the annual National Education Association (NEA) convention. For the past 11 years, by the grace of God, Answers in Genesis has donated thousands of dollars worth of materials to this public school teachers’ union conference, reaching thousands of teachers, principals and other school administrators with the unshakeable truth of God’s Word.

Last year’s theme was “Propaganda in the Classroom” and HERE is a brief report that details some of the excitement we had down in Orlando. You can visit http://blogs.answersingenesis.org/nea to learn more. Also HERE on Ken Ham’s blog is a presentation I gave to the AiG staff last year.

This year with the conference in Philadelphia, the theme will be “Evolution Exposed”. From June 30^th to July 2^nd, we will give out 2000 of the Evolution Exposed books by former public school teacher Roger Patterson. This book is a critique of the 3 most popular biology textbooks in the public schools. Page by page we show how the public schoolbooks are promoting the lie of evolution and its associated errors. Roger will be on hand to autograph books if any should so desire . In addition thousands of other DVDs and materials will be freely distributed.

Many have asked us, “How in the world did you get into the nation’s most liberal teachers union conference?” Well, with man this might seem impossible, but with God all things are possible. You see, we are not there officially as “Answers in Genesis”. We are merely supporting the NEA Creation Science Educator’s Caucus, which was started by a Christian public school teacher 11 years ago. One day he called AiG and asked if we would be willing to donate materials to this caucus to give out to thousands of teachers at their annual conference. Praising the Lord we quickly agreed to not only donate materials but also to send volunteers to man the booth.

God has opened this incredible door to be right in the midst of one of the most liberal political lobbyist groups in America. On the surface, this teacher’s union might seem to be interested in the welfare of the millions of students within their system. In reality, however, by their actions they are known to be a very strong front for Satan’s agenda of erasing any vestige of Christ and the Bible from our nation’s educational system. The NEA promotes homosexuality, abortion, moral relativism, etc. and has tremendous political influence. The government school system has effectively censored Christianity from the classroom, but not religion. You see, when they threw out the Bible and prayer from the schools, they didn’t throw out religion; they threw out Christianity and replaced it with the religion of secular humanism.

The goal of this outreach is to reach individuals with the truth about the gospel, the authority of the Bible and creation. Our goal is not to change the ‘system’ of the government schools from the top down. Personally, I believe it is too far gone and Christians need to conduct a mass exodus from this atheistic system. We pray that our presence at this liberal teacher’s union conference as well as the thousands of materials we give away for free would be used by the Lord to open hearts and minds to the truth that the God of the Bible is the Creator and Savior of the world ( Isa 45:21-22).

I’m so thankful to all of you who have supported this outreach, this direct evangelism ministry through your prayers and gifts. As many of you know AiG is primarily devoted to equipping the saints to do the work of the ministry, including evangelism. But this one particular time per year, God gives us the opportunity to do the direct evangelism ourselves and we are very thankful to the Lord.

We praise the Lord that in recent years more and more teachers are actually eager to see our booth there and are excited to see what new materials we have for them. We have heard many testimonies from Christian teachers who have been encouraged to see this light in the midst of darkness. Many other teachers may have good intentions but have been blinded by Satan into believing the lie of evolution and the lies of secular humanism. Please join me in praying that the materials they would receive would change their minds and hearts to the truth and reliability of God’s Word.

There are many Christians who are teachers in the public school system and they need our prayers in a mighty way because they are in a system that rejects the God of the Bible, that denies the lordship of Jesus Christ, and that neglects His sovereignty over the universe.

It is very difficult for these Christians; they need boldness to “teach in the name of Jesus” as the Scripture shows us that we ought to. Pray that public school teachers would not shrink back from declaring the whole counsel of God, teaching each of their subjects in light of God’s involvement in the affairs of men. Pray they would be a light in the midst of that darkness and not merely by their presence or their kindness, but also with their lips. Pray they would proclaim the gospel. Pray for each of us as workers in our particular environments. Most of us work in a secular environment and we need boldness to proclaim the gospel with sensitivity and in love.

Please continue to keep this evangelistic ministry in prayer. As you know, proclaiming the truth of the gospel and of the authority of the Bible will simply fall on deaf ears if the Holy Spirit does not open hearts. So we request that you offer up supplications to our God and Father that He would open up hearts as we fulfill His commission to us in proclaiming the gospel of grace to these public school teachers.

May you and your families grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever.

Howdy all,

Here’s John MacArthur talking about the birth of Jesus and how the angels appeared to the shepherds. We usually like to think that the angels were singing ‘Hallelujahs’, but from his expert, in-depth, technical, scholarly exegesis, MacArthur seems to think that in actuality the angels were rapping! Then we get a taste of Dr. John MacArthur himself actually doing a bit of rap!

Of course after you listen to it, you’ll see it was done for the humor of it all. Thought I’d give you a dose of ‘laughs’ today. (See, I’m not all theological ruminations all the time.) In fact, just today someone gave me the compliment (kinda) of being a ‘work-nerd’. I laughed (on the outside).

 MacArthur's Heavenly Rap: Downloads 533

Today, I had the privilege of teaching through Romans 15:14-16. The theme of the message was “The Priesthood of the Believers”. In many ways, the church today gives lip service to this article of faith, but in effect does little to put it into practice. It is a beautiful doctrine that declares that Christians are “able also to admonish one another”. Admonish from the Greek is noutheteo from which we get the phrase “nouthetic counseling” (which stands in opposition to “Christian Psychology”). In verse 16, we saw that every Christian is a priest that can offer up spiritual sacrifices to the glory of God, namely as we proclaim the gospel, our offering up of converts is an acceptable sacrifice to the Lord because they are sanctified by the Holy Spirit.

The following are excerpts from the book “Competent to Minister” which is included FREE below.

The Reformation was a turning point in church history. Two great teachings of the Reformation are Sola Scriptura and the priesthood of all believers. Sola Scriptura means by Scripture alone. The priesthood of all believers means that believers, guided by the Word and empowered by the Holy Spirit, are equipped and called to minister to one another in the Body of Christ. This book rests heavily on those two doctrines. It is a call forward to confidence in the efficacy of Scriptures and the knowledge that:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works (2 Timothy 3:16,17).

This book is also a call to believers to use the Word empowered by the Spirit to minister to one another. You who are Christians are competent to minister by the grace of God; you can care for souls.

The care of souls depends upon all of the “alones” of the Reformation:

• Sola Scriptura by Scripture alone
• Sola Gratia by grace alone
• Solo Christo by Christ alone
• Sola Fide by faith alone
• Soli Deo Gloria glory to God alone

These principles apply to all aspects of salvation, including justification, sanctification, and glorification. Believers are to continue their walk with the Lord on the same basis as their initial salvation by Scripture alone, by grace alone, by Christ alone, by faith alone, and to the glory of God alone. All these apply within the individual life of the believer and within the Body of Christ, in which we have the fellowship and the priesthood of all believers.

Mutual care within the Body of Christ, performed by a priesthood of all believers also depends upon these same principles. We want to emphasize this at the very beginning because of the tenacious tendency to use other means for living the Christian life and solving problems of living. Psychological counseling violates these biblical principles. Theories and methodologies underlying psychotherapy have come from the wisdom of men and cannot be integrated with Scripture without doing violence to the Word of God. Psychological counseling depends on the works of the flesh rather than the grace of God, even when practiced by Christians. Thereby the flesh is strengthened and spiritual growth may be retarded or stagnated.

Psychological counseling is not by Christ alone, even if the counselor is a Christian, because the models and methods are unsanctified human means and depend upon unsanctified human effort. Psychological counseling depends on a faith other than faith in the Word of God and the work of the Holy Spirit. Psychological counseling depends on faith in the counselor and the counseling process. Finally, psychological counseling cannot be Soli Deo Gloria, because the psychology together with the counselor and the so-called counselee get the credit. Even when some credit is given to God because of a “counselor” or “counselee” being a Christian, the glory is not glory to God alone.

Caring for souls is a high calling. Nevertheless it is the calling of every Christian among the priesthood of all believers. No believer is exempt from mutually caring for one another in the Body of Christ. Although it is a high calling, it is possible for the humblest believer who is abiding in Christ. Caring for souls is a high calling, but it is also a common calling, one to which every believer is both called and equipped. However, although it is a common calling, it cannot be done by human wisdom, technical ingenuity, or scientific insight.

The care of souls through justification, regeneration, and sanctification is first of all God’s domain. He uses preaching to save and sanctify. He is the One who justifies on the basis of Christ’s sacrifice and sanctifies on the basis of Christ’s Resurrection. He is the One who regenerates by giving new life to the believer. At the moment of new life, the believer becomes so related to Christ that he is a branch engrafted to a vine, and that vine is Christ.

Every Believer Is Competent to Care for Souls!

The Lord has given His Body all they need to minister. He will use young believers, mature believers, leaders, and followers who will trust in Christ’s sufficiency and the completeness of God’s Word. They will minister under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and rely on His blessed Word. They will operate as a priesthood of all believers and minister God’s love, grace, mercy, faithfulness, and wisdom to one another. They will voluntarily give time, love, and whatever else is needful to help one another through difficult circumstances. They will care for one another and diligently pray for one another. Some are already doing all these things and they are seeing fruit and being blessed.

The biblical care of souls involves more than just biblical conversation. It involves biblically caring for the whole person through the mutual participation of all members of the Body of Christ. The biblical care of souls first and foremost consists of caring for a person’s eternal destiny, which encompasses salvation and sanctification. Though the biblical care of souls is a high calling, it is a common calling to minister to the inner and outer person, utilizing the whole counsel of God by grace through faith with hope and love. Caring for souls includes godly conversation ministered in mercy and truth with wisdom. Under the leadership of the local church, believers are competent to minister mutual care to the glory of God.

God asks in His Word, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” This is a call to serve and minister. May every believer answer, “Here am I; send me.”

Soli Deo Gloria!

 Competent to Minister PDF: Downloads 150

I had a good conversation with a friend tonight. We talked about Christians teaching in the temples of secular humanism. Not as full time teachers, but as special speakers, say Creation speakers. Dr. Tommy Mitchell (AiG’s newest full time speaker) recently spoke in a government school on the topic of creation. He did the full message just as he would have in any church, i.e. he talked about the God of the Bible, that He created in six literal days, etc. God sovereignly opened the door for that lecture and has sustained the principal and all who were involved in getting the message out.

Ironically, another talk had been scheduled (for a different speaker) some time later in a government indoctrination center but this one was under the auspices of being only a science lecture. In other words, the creation speaker was not to mention God, Jesus or the Bible. It turns out that there was a great furor over the lecture simply because the speaker was a literal six day creationist (even though the speaker would not give glory to God or lift up the name of Jesus in his talk). Eventually the lecture never happened.

Isn’t it interesting to see the sovereignty of God at work. When we give Him the honor and credit that He’s due, He happened to open up the school to the lecture. But when we compromise the message of the Bible or water it down, He happened to close the door. It just goes to show that Christians should not be pragmatic about what might or might not be effective. We should simply strive to be obedient to His call to teach in the name of Jesus and allow Him to deal with the consequences. If Dr. Tommy Mitchell were to never be allowed to speak again in that public school where he gave God the glory, that would be fine. Tommy did his duty, he gave credit to God and did not leave Him out.

I think lots of folks think that simply leaving God out of a situation makes that situation ‘neutral’. But it does not. To not give God the glory and credit He deserves, is dishonoring to God. Notice in the following passage what Herod’s sin worthy of death was: simply not giving God the glory (what many call neutrality).

Acts 12:21-3 On an appointed day Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

Today was a real blessing. I had opportunity to represent AiG in a booth that we had at a local high school. It was a career fair and we were there to introduce AiG as a ministry and tell students about our experience, education, etc. We also gave away free “Answers” books and other literature. But the best part was talking with the kids and sharing the gospel with them. Praise the Lord that many kids were very interested in the Bible, creation, Jesus, etc. It was a tremendous feeling that here we were in the temple of secular humanism giving the gospel to these kids, tearing down strongholds and false thoughts. Praise the Lord! Please pray for the 20 or so kids who I personally interacted with, not to mention the other five AiG staff who were there talking with students also. Pray that God would use His word to convict these young ones of sin, righteousness and judgment. Thanks.

Click on the ‘play’ button below to hear a short report from me to my daughter Grace! She’s the sweetest little big girl!

Gov school MP3