Faith Bible Blog

Shai Linne raps the story of the Bible.   Not only is it excellent, but you just have to give props to a guy who can fit “mosaic covenant” into a song that demands rhythm and meter!!

Filmed at the Worship God ’09 Conference.

John Gospel, Internet Notables

I just came across this from 2007. A number of people from FBC went to Resolved back then and heard this live, but if you weren’t able to go, please listen to John Piper preaching on the damning gospel which teaches that God desires your prosperity.

If you’d like to hear more, you can download the whole sermon from Resolved.org — look for ‘God is the Gospel’ in 2007.

…And as an fitting conclusion to what Piper said at Resolved, hear him describe what we are called to.

John Gospel, Internet Notables

“Someone has written,

John Gospel, Missions

Question: What’s the difference between pride & self-esteem?

Answer:

Self-esteem is basically our culture’s word for what the Bible calls pride. It is commonly seen as a good thing in our culture to think highly yourself – to have high self-esteem. The Bible on the other hand advocates having a Gospel view of ourselves. As Tim Keller has put it:

“The Gospel shows us that we are more sinful and flawed than we would ever dare admit and yet – at the same time – in Christ we are more loved and accepted than we ever dared hope.”

Spiritual health would be to believe both of these things about ourselves. God’s love in acceptance is not based on our worthiness but on the worthiness of Jesus. This security gives us a humble confidence that self-esteem never can never produce. For more on this, read Tim Keller’s article on the Centrality of the Gospel.

Erick Bible Issues & Questions, Gospel, Lifestyle TXT Question

Question = If we live our life as “to live is Christ + something else,” are we unbelievers?

Answer:

Perhaps a good way to answer your question is to establish what makes one a believer.  A believer is one who has been called and transformed by the grace of God alone.  “For you were saved by grace through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God so that no one may boast” (Eph 2:8-9).

When God saves a person, the Scripture says that He draws them to Himself, makes a dead heart alive (Eph 2:1-3) and gives them “saving faith.”  What is “saving faith”? Saving faith is that “gift of God” which brings a person into intimate relationship with Christ (Rom 10:9-10). It is based on God’s grace alone rather than a person’s efforts to “make themselves right” with God or ”earn favor” with God (2 Tim 2:25).

So, based on the finished work of Christ, every true believer is brought into a personal relationship with God (aka saving faith) by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, for God’s glory alone!

So how does that answer your question? Read more…

Peter Gospel, Lifestyle TXT Question

In this age of tolerance, what is the most effective way to communicate an intolerant gospel?

Great question.  The Gospel message is of course the same no matter what age you are proclaiming it in, but in each unique context people will have different objections to it.  For example, the truth that there is only one way to God is offensive to people in our culture, but assumed by most people in the Middle East (as it was in the West before the Enlightenment).  Each time and context has it’s own set of objections to the Gospel.  By your question I assume that you are aware of this and you want to understand how to communicate the unchanging Gospel to the place God has called you.  These have been very helpful to me:

The Heart of Evangelism (book), Jerram Barrs (his free podcast with the same content)

The Reason for God (book), Tim Keller (audio book) – Great book directed to unbelievers where he explains the Gospel and answers objections

Who is This Jesus? (free audio) and Prodigal Sons (free audio), Tim Keller

The Prodigal God series (free audio), Tim Keller

Objections to Christianity series (free audio), Tim Keller

Erick Gospel TXT Question

If you missed the Good Friday service this year, you really missed out! At the conclusion of our time together, Jon Stead asked everyone to note briefly on a card what the cross means to them. Below are the replies received. What a great testimony of God’s grace!

• In light of Jesus’ death on the cross, I’ve been gifted with the power to love my husband when he sins, speak about Christ’s love to the world and daily rely on His saving redemption as I reprove my depravity despite my best attempts at righteousness.
• He died to save me from my sins and to save me from a life of sin and hurt.
• MM – The cross was a perfect act of obedience to the Father. A perfect act of love for His neighbor. It was full payment for sin. My sin. Thank you Jesus! I did not deserve it.
• JM – The cross means a lot to me. It means that when Jesus died on the cross He saved my sins and yours.
• KM – The cross means freedom from all the sin in this world and I can run to God. I am no longer separated from Him. Amen!
• Freedom to live a life that will glorify Him!
• That Jesus died on the cross for our sins.
• Redeemed, forgiven, grace, mercy, freedom from sin and death, eternal life, hope
• The cross means I will be forever with my Jesus in heaven. Yeah, I can’t wait!
• The cross means to me that Jesus suffered all the things just so we can spend eternity with Him in His holy new earth. I love Him!
• The cross is what Jesus Christ was punished for our sins on so that we would not have to suffer for them and so that we could spend eternity with Him in heaven.
• CH – Everything
• JR – The crucifixion is my God, my Lord suffering for my sins. Even if I was the only person on earth, He would still die for me.
• SK – The service was very impactful. Jesus reigns!!
• The cross is everything to me. The cross is where my perfect Lord died for my sins. And because of His sacrifice I will forever be with my Lord and savior.
• I’m in awe of His humility, kindness, and mercy. So thankful that even though I don’t deserve it He took it all on for me. The perfect example. I have a very thankful heart.
• The cross means to me that we are saved because Jesus paid the ultimate price for my sin.
• Before the cross I walked in darkness, lost and without hope. Because Christ died and took God’s wrath toward my sin on Himself, I now walk in light, can enter the presence of God Almighty and have an eternal hope. It is where I daily find forgiveness and hope.
• Read more…

John Church News, Gospel

As some of you may know, I meet regularly with a group of firemen for discipleship, accountability and mutual encouragement. Today was a great day for discussion and conversation about areas we need to grow in. Below is an EXCELLENT section that I just loved. (Well, actually, the whole book has been good so far!)

——————————————————

“The first order of business is to know the gospel.  This seems so obvious that stating it can feel silly.  But, in point of fact, many professing and believing Christians possess a shallow understanding of the gospel as a result of years of hearing short “gospel presentations” tacked onto the ends of sermons.  Still others who know the message of Christ find themselves feeling awkward and incapable of sharing the good news clearly with family and friends.  Taking steps to be sure we know the gospel with some clarity and depth, then, is necessary.

It’s helpful to rule out some ideas frequently presented as the gospel.  The gospel is not simply that (a) we are okay, (b) that God is love, (c) that Jesus wants to be our friends, or (d) that we should live right.  Neither is the gospel simply that all our problems will be fixed if we follow Jesus, or that God wants us to be healthy, wealthy, and wise.  All of these ideas may be true in some sense, but only in a partial sense and never as a solely sufficient statement of what the gospel is.

The gospel of Jesus Christ is literally “good news.”  As news it contains statement of fact and truths derived from those facts.  As good news the gospel holds out hope based upon promises of God and grounded in the historical facts and truths that vindicate those promises.

The gospel or good news of Jesus Christ is that God the Father, who is holy and righteous in all his ways, is angry with sinners and will punish sin.  Man, who disobeys the rule of God, is alienated from the love of God and is in danger of an eternal and agonizing condemnation at the hands of God.  But God, who is also rich in mercy, because of his great love, sent his eternal Son born by the Virgin Mary, to die as a ransom and a substitute for the sins of rebellious people.  And now, through the perfect obedience of the Son of God and his willing death on the cross as a payment for our sins, all who repent and believe in Jesus Christ, following him as Savior and Lord, will be saved from the wrath of God to come, be declared just in his sight, have eternal life, and receive the Spirit of God as a foretaste of the glories of heaven with God himself.

It is this message — briefly stated here — that we must imbibe and delight in if we are to be healthy church members.”

– Thabiti Anyabwile, What is a Healthy Church Member?, p.40-41

John Books, Gospel

Several of you have asked me to email what I read off the back of my Bible last night. Here it is:

“What do you want so badly today that it is making you depressed, anxious, covetous, bitter or angry? What is making you sick of soul? That is the idol you need to repent of today! Pray and confess it to your Father.”

I wrote that on the back of my Bible in a time of deep anxiety, depression and covetousness. It has been something I frequently use as a reminder to repent and receive the peace and joy that is should always be mine in the Gospel.

Enjoy!
Erick.

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols”
1 John 5:21

Erick Gospel, Lifestyle

Question: If we r convicted, does that mean we r saved?

Answer:

I assume you mean “conviction over sin”?  If that is what you mean the answer is ‘no.’  Let me explain…

Scripture teaches that God has written His law on the heart of every person.  Conviction over sin, a guilty conscience, and experiencing personal responsibility for violating God’s righteous law are present in all people (Rom 1:1-32) — the saved and the unsaved!  So the key question is ‘what does the Bible say genuine salvation looks like?’:

How do I know my life has been transformed by God’s grace, that I’m really a Christian? How do I know if I’m  just a “professor” or a real “possessor” of genuine saving faith?

The Bible states that a person can know if they are truly born-again (Gal 5:16-25)!  It exhorts us to examine ourselves to see if we truly “possess” genuine, saving faith in Jesus Christ (2 Cor 13:5 ).  The Bible gives ample descriptions of the nature and specific type of  ”God-given faith” that resides in the heart of a true follower of Christ (Matt 5:3-12; Col 3).

Listed below are some, but not all, of those key heart attitudes and actions that “possesors” of genuine faith display as the pattern of their life:

1. Manifest love for the God of the Bible – an undying desire to  worship, please, sacrifice and serve the triune God (Ps 42:1ff; Rom 8:7; 1 Pet 1:8-9; 1 Jn 2:9-11).
2. Humility – an unwavering recognition and conviction of your total sinfulness and inability to be accepted  by and please God, apart from Christ (Matt 5:3).
3. Heart desire for righteousness – a deep passion for personal purity, a “hunger and thirst after righteousness.”
4. Submission to God’s Authority – a heart’s desire to fully embrace the Lordship of Christ and the absolute authority of Scripture (Matt 7:21-27;  Jn 14:15).
5. Heart-driven obedience to God’s Word – a  passion and pattern of obedience to Scripture because He  has changed you.  You obey because He is sovereign, worthy, your Creator, Savior and you love Him (John 8:31, 14:15, 23-24, cf. 15:10).

So “conviction over sin” alone, or any other perceived transgression, does not prove one “possesses” true salvation.  The “proof” is provided by a changed heart and life that displays, at a minimum, the Spirit-generated characteristics presented above.

If you believe that you do not possess “genuine saving faith” in Christ  and you desire to, then I humbly encourage you to speak with me or anyone faithfully serving at FBC.  (It would be a joy!)

Remember, the Bible says ”faith” comes by hearing (or understanding) and understanding comes by the Word of  God!  (Rom 10:17)

Peter Bible Issues & Questions, Gospel TXT Question