How to Lose the Gospel in 4 Generations

Looking at post-Christian Europe, and nearly post-Christian America, it is alarmingly evident how rapidly the Gospel can lost. Mack Stiles, in his book Marks of the Messenger points out the decline.

Generation 1: The Gospel is Accepted

Generation 2: The Gospel is Assumed

Generation 3: The Gospel is Confused

Generation 4: The Gospel is Lost

(Stiles, pg. 40)

NEVER assume the Gospel. Preach the Gospel. If the Gospel is to you nothing more than a means of avoiding Hell, you've already confused it! The Gospel is for all of life.

Don't assume the Gospel. If you are confused, get clear on the Gospel. And, if you are in a church that has lost the Gospel, do all you can to bring it back.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 (NIV)
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures.

Worship @ TBC 9.19.2010

Songs
Everlasting God
A Mighty Fortress Is Our God
In Christ Alone
How Deep the Father's Love For Us
Blessed Assurance

Sermon
Jesus' Prayer and the People of God
John 17:6-19

1. God's people are peculiar.
v. 14- "they are not of the world"

2. God's people are possessed.
v. 6- "They were yours; you gave them to me"

3. God's people are protected.
v. 11- "Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name"

Listen to the sermon

Examine Yourselves

2 Corinthians 13:5 (ESV) "Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!"

Drawing from Jonathan Edwards on True Christianity by Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney, Trevin Wax offers these seven questions for examining one's claim to be a Christian.

1. Do you love God?

2. Do you love the Bible?

3. Do you love living out and sharing the Gospel?

4. Do you love Christians?

5. Do you enjoy church and draw nourishment from it?

6. Does the matter of eternity concern you?

7. Does the Bible shape your morals and ethics?

For an expansion of these questions, check out Kingdom People.

Logos+Apple=WIN!

Logos Bible Software is giving away thousands of dollars of prizes to celebrate the launch of Logos Bible Software 4 Mac on October 1. Prizes include an iMac, a MacBook Pro, an iPad, an iPod Touch, and more than 100 other prizes!

They’re also having a special limited-time sale on their Mac and PC base packages and upgrades. Check it out!

Who should repent?

He commands all people everywhere to repent. (Acts 17:30)

Thomas Watson lists 6 kinds of people who should repent:

1. Those in civil or political power

2. The flagrantly wicked

3. Liars and cheaters

4. Good, upstanding citizens; decent, moral people

5. Hypocrites

6. God's own people

Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, pages 63-69

The Nature of True Repentance

Acts 3:19 (ESV) "Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out."

The Puritan Thomas Watson publish The Doctrine of Repentance in 1668. It is needed more now than ever. What a treasure it is! And what a clarion call it sounds! I commend this little book to you for your careful reading and meditation.

What is repentance? "Repentance is a grace of God's Spirit whereby a sinner is inwardly humbled and visibly reformed." (p. 18)

Watson lists six ingredients that formulate genuine repentance.

1. Sight of sin (seeing and perceiving sin for what it is)
2. Sorrow for sin (for the sin itself, and not just the consequences of sin)
3. Confession of sin (agreeing with God about the sinfulness of sin and not making excuses for sin)
4. Shame for sin
5. Hatred for sin
6. Turning from sin

"If any one is left out it loses its virtue."

Pick up this little book. Read it slowly and repetitively. Learn how, by God's grace, to repent.

Vacation Goals

Next week we will head out on vacation. Here's what I hope to accomplish:

1. Rest, recharge, and refresh my ministerial batteries.

2. Enjoy my family and have an attitude and actions that allow my family to enjoy me.

3. Read and journal through the Minor Prophets.

4. Read some great books. I'm packing Mere Churchianity, Sticky Church, The Fading Flesh and the Flourishing Faith, The Radical Disciple, Holy Subversion, Fear Not!, Dug Down Deep, Radical, and Jonathan Edwards: Lover of God. I hope to complete at least five of these.

5. Eat some great Tex-Mex and Chick-Fil-A.

Book Review: Insights on John

Chuck Swindoll is an excellent Bible teacher. His voice is radio perfect and his "insights" are extremely helpful. His new series of commentaries on the New Testament are a great resource and are vintage Swindoll.

These books will be useful for serious Bible Students, Sunday School teachers, and small group leaders. Swindoll writes in an engaging style without dumbing down the text. Pastors will find helpful points of application that will flesh out their sermons.

Insights on John is the second volume in this series. I received it as a promotion from Zondervan and am very grateful for it. I am currently preaching through the Gospel of John and have found it to be a helpful tool.

This book won't replace the more scholarly commentaries on John, but it will sit very nicely on your shelf next to the the NIV Application Commentary or other "expositional" commentaries.

Win Holy Vocabulary Bible Study

Go here to sign up to win a new Threads small group Bible study!

I Am Preparing a Place for You: Jesus and the Doctrine of Heaven

Preached at Tremont Baptist Church
May 30, 2010

John 14:1-6
¹"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. ²In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. ³And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴You know the way to the place where I am going."

⁵Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

⁶Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

1. Jesus' assurance of heaven should give us hope and peace in life. (verse 1)

• This world is temporary. Do not build your life in this world. See Matthew 6:19-20; 2 Peter 3:10-13; Philippians 1:21, 23

• When you do suffer in this world, you realize that this life is temporary and God has something far greater in store for you.
  

2. Jesus is preparing heaven for His disciples. (verse 2)

• When we die, our spirits go immediately to be with Jesus. See Luke 23:43; Acts 7:59; 2 Corinthians 5:8; Philippians 1:23; Revelation 6:9-11
• When Christ returns, our bodies will be resurrected. Our spirits will be reunited with our glorified bodies. We will live in the New Heavens and New Earth. We will have physical bodies, just like Jesus' resurrected body. See 1 Corinthians 15:42-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17; Revelation chapters 21:1-22:6

3. Jesus will return to take his disciples to heaven. (verse 3)

4. Jesus is the only way to heaven. (verses 4-6)