RSS

Category Archives: Theology

Born of water and Spirit?

This past week I was listening to an audio sermon on CD by Timothy Juhnke, senior Jesus and Nicodemus pastor of Faith Community Church in Kansas City, MO. I received the CD from Nick a new friend who has visited OBC on several occasions. Nick and I have the great state of Tennessee in our past in common. He gravitated to me when he spotted my bright orange Tennessee Vols jacket one worship day. Sorry I digress.

Pastor Timothy uses the expository preaching style that I love so much and he is taking his congregation through the book of John. The sermon Nick turned me on to is from last year and is on John 3:1-5. A religious leader from the Pharisaical sect whose name was Nicodemus comes to see Jesus in the middle of the night to ask him some soul searching questions. Nicodemus acknowledges that Jesus has to be from God. The Lord Jesus states that:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of heaven.

Exactly what does this “born again” mean. Nicodemus questions the Lord again displaying that he is unsure what Jesus is saying. The Lord then makes the statement:

Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.

Read the rest of this entry »

5 Comments

Posted by barrydean on May 4, 2007 in born again, Preaching, Theology, Timothy Juhnke

Trusting in future grace

11 Apr

I am currently involved in a bible study surrounding a book written by John Piper. The book is titled Future Grace. We’ve been doing the study for about 4 weeks now and it is great. The first thing Piper educates us on is this thing called future grace. Piper contrasts future grace with gratitude. He challenges us to find anywhere in the bible where believers were motivated to obedience out of gratitude. He contends that this good deed behavior out of gratitude is called debtor’s ethic. It says that since you have done something good for me I am indebted to do something good for you. This is contrary to what God intended. God intended for true gratitude to be a spontaneous expression of pleasure in the gift and the good will of another. There is a good quote in the very first chapter that kind of describes it with clarity for me.

With true gratitude there is such a delight in the worth of God’s past grace, that we are driven on to experience more and more of it in the future. But this is not done by payments of debt in any ordinary sense. Rather, it is done by transforming gratitude into faith as it turns from contemplating the pleasures of past grace and starts contemplating the promises of the future.

This future grace is grace provided by God in the next day, in the next hour, in the next minute. We have confidence from past grace to trust God for His future grace. It is an awesome thing to behold and trust in.

In our study we recently discussed chapter six. It contains one of the most convicting things I’ve ever encountered. Faith in future grace versus pride. The chapter discusses three competitors to God for the human heart. Wisdom, might and riches. We think these can be obtained by our own self reliance. It is radically humbling to confess that the source of all our joy resides outside of ourselves. Pride is such an obstacle to future grace it opposes the hope and trust in the promises of God because we trust in ourselves, or others, or material things. But when we trust in God and His future grace we put away this human pride and walk in the second, the minute, the hour, and the day of God’s future grace.

As we continue in this study I will post some more information about it and review it as a whole. More to come.

6 Comments

Posted by barrydean on April 11, 2007 in grace, John Piper, Personal, Praise, Theology, Trust in Lord

Theology from an ex-president

30 Mar

If you listen to any of the Christian talk radio shows or read any of the blogs, you will have heard about the latest opinion about Jesus and salvation from former president Jimmy Carter. If you haven’t heard about it. His comment on the subject appeared in an article at beliefnet.com. Former president Carter was asked “Do you believe that god’s grace will save even non-Christians?” His reply was “yes” and then goes on to try and support this theology ….excuse me, opinion, using some biblical texts out of context and using pluralistic meanings.

One of the verses he uses is one so many folks use and misinterpret as I did many years ago and that is John 3:16. Former president Carter uses the first part of the verse “God so loved the world that He gave His only Son” to substantiate his claim that everyone will be saved. His interpretation would be that God’s loving the world would also represent saving the world. Nothing could be further than this interpretation. Yes, God does demonstrate His love for the world by sending His only Son to die for those who would believe. Former president Carter neglects to use the following two verses and they follow:

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

If he would have included these verses he could not have argued for his kind of universalistic teaching. He would have to have aknowledge that it is only through Jesus that people are saved. We should be praying that former president Jimmy Carter would come to understand the true knowledge of scriptures so he will no longer spread this false teaching. I would also go so far as to say pray for his salvation as well.

You can read the Carter interview here. Be sure to check out some of the video as well. His body language reminds me of the body language I’ve seen of Joel Osteen when trying to articulate the gospel. It looks more like they are appealing to the interviewer and not proclaiming a truth. Reading about these people and those like him give me opportunity to thank God and give him the glory for calling out men to proclaim the truth that matters. Men like Patrick Abendroth, Mike Abendroth, Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. Steven Lawson, Dr. Albert Mohler and many others. Seek out messages by men such as these or those listed in my blog roll.

Salvation comes from sola Scriptura, solus Christus, sola Gratia, sola Fide, and soli Deo Gloria. Which means all through Scripture alone, through Christ alone, in grace alone, through faith alone, all to the glory of God.

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on March 30, 2007 in news, Theology

Who has clean hands?

23 Mar

While thinking about a song by Third Day, which is literally the lyrics from Psalm 2 clean hands 4, I made a note to look up the Psalm and read it again. I found some interesting stuff in verses 4 and 5.

4 He who has clean hands and a pure heart ,who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. 5 He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.

Who has clean hands? In verse 6 the question is answered….well kind of.

6 Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.

Who are those that seek the face of God? I would have to use scripture to answer both of these questions. Romans 3 tells us that none is righteous, and no one seeks for God. So who has clean hands? No one has clean hands. Psalm 14:3 tells us as well that no one does good. Who seeks the face of the God? No one seeks the face of God. Only God can give us the desire through His grace to seek His face. Only God can declare us to have clean hands. He does this through justification. Justification that happens when God give us the faith to believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ. God then declares us righteous.

Our senior pastor Patrick Abendroth has been leading us in a study of justification for the past few weeks. Ah….justification is such a sweet word that explains the believer’s position before a holy God. Pastor Pat has expressed that there is nothing he desires more to read about or study than justification. I would have to agree. It is amazing when it is foremost in your thinking how much it comes out in scripture. For when the psalmist asks in Psalm 24, who has clean hands, the believer can reflect that only through justification he has clean hands.

The recommended audio for the justification messages can be heard from the links below. Give them a listen.

Justification part 1

Justification part 2

Praise from a free will theologian

31 Jan

songs of praise “How Great I Art”, “To Me Be the Glory”, “Great Is My Faithfulness”, and “I Need Me Every Hour” could be the hymns of choice based on a free will theology. If you are not sure what free will theology is please follow the link provided above.

I held this very view for more years than I haven’t. And even though I would not admit these hymns even remotely described my theology, I still affirmed man’s free will in salvation. So if you hold the view that man is ultimately responsible for his salvation because He chooses God then you should indeed pat yourself on the back and sing a praise in your behalf.

Now some might think this a bit too far fetched. But if you honestly look at the rational conclusion from the theology that says salvation has been provided by God and it was up to you to choose God, then you should rejoice in your salvation. And not only praise God for your salvation you should also rejoice and praise yourself as well. This is much like what a pastor friend of mine once envisioned getting to heaven and high-fiving Christ and proclaiming “We did it!”

But if you are from the “God does it all” camp then the stuff above would seem pretty silly. This is the camp I now sing around campfires in. And sing I do. If it wasn’t for the grace of God who gave me the faith to believe I would still be in opposition to a holy God. I would still be destined to be condemned to God’s just wrath for my sin. For it is God and God alone, which is known in theological circles as monergism, that provides the way and the means for salvation. He does it all. This my friends causes me to greatly praise my God.

Check out the lyrics for the following song.

It Was Your Grace

Praise on!

5 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 31, 2007 in Arminianism, free will, Monergism, Praise, Theology

Intercessory Prayer

26 Jan

It is always a great day when you learn something new. Today is kind of like that. In my ever growing, humble knowledge of a sovereign God I have Jack praying often struggled with understanding the command for believers to lift up intercessory prayers for all the saints. Since God is sovereign, in control of all things, why would we need to pray on behalf of others? This has especially been at the forefront of my mind because my mother and Robin’s mother are both undergoing cancer treatments. We have been praying quite a bit for each of them lately. So why pray if God is sovereign?

The answer seems to lie (as it always seems to) in the way we view God. Do we view God as a wish genie, who is sitting on His throne granting wishes whenever a whim hits Him. Or do we view Him as the Almighty God who is indeed concerned with our lives and has everything sovereignly aligned for each of us. Things to benefit us and not harm us. Do we trust Him to know what is best for us? Back to the question at hand.

One of my favorite theologians and radio personalities, Dr. Albert Mohler, had recently been in the hospital for stomach surgery and subsequent blood clot complications and upon his return to the airwaves commented on this often asked question. The answer he provided made so much sense I had to blog about it. He said “In the bible, intercessory prayer is not presented as a means to change the mind of God. This is a huge mis-perception. When we intercede for others we are involving ourselves in a conversation with God that opens us up to a change that God would do within us.” In other words it is all about God and His Spirit (who at times intercedes for us) changing us through His sanctifying power and allowing us to participate in the process. This is so awesome. Praise be to God the Father for caring for us in all things for His glory. I am pumped to start thinking this way whenever I am in prayer. God is in the process of changing me as I live my life to be conformed in the image of His son Jesus. If you think about it, we read God’s word to know more about Him. We meditate on the things we read there and then as we open ourselves up in a spirit of prayer He is changing our minds.

It might be a good idea, if you do not already, to journal after your prayer time with God. Ask yourself these questions. What has God revealed to you about His word today? What has God revealed to you about yourself today? How is God changing you today?

Rock on!!

2 Comments

Posted by barrydean on January 26, 2007 in Praise, Prayer, Theology

Our Creator knows us well

10 Jan

I am not sure why I haven’t posted anything in almost a month. It may be that I haven’t had anything relevant to say and I have been trying to limit the number of personal posts. After all who really wants to read about someone else’s life experiences. I know there may be some of my friends and family who do read those personal posts and I appreciate it. I am going to try and post something more often, but this year I am trying to post more relevant topics.

Now for the first post of this year. This past Sunday morning our associate Pastor, Eric, presented a message about people being made in the image of God and what that means. He used selected scripture verses to effectively describe what this means. The message definitely got me to thinking and I followed this thinking to my next logical step. Since we are made in the image of God and God is also our creator wouldn’t He know what is good for us and what is harmful? I say absolutely and this is what I would like to write about.

Whenever we begin a new year one of the things The Human Body we think about are resolutions for the new year. Some of the more popular resolutions are exercising and eating right, followed by a plethora of others. I think the common theme for most of them is starting a habit or a consistent activity that is better for us. I believe God not only has given us the knowledge that He exists and the knowledge to know right from wrong. But along this same line of thinking he has given us the knowledge to understand what is good for us and what is harmful. He has definitely given us this knowledge through His commands in His perfect scripture.

Read the rest of this entry »

Exercising my faith

08 Dec

If you trust in Jesus Christ as your Lord and the savior of your eternal soul then you have exp lifting weights erienced the internal struggle the apostle Paul speaks of in Romans 7:15.

For what I am doing, I do not understand, for I am not practicing what I would like to do, but I am doing the very thing that I hate.

This verse is just an exerpt within the whole text and the context should be read as well. I believe Paul is referring to sin in his life that he personally struggled with. I can relate to this and lately I have had an idea as to a personal correlation between the sin I struggle with as a believer in Christ and the struggle in eating right when you have adopted an exercise regime in your life.

When I am consistently exercising, losing weight, and getting into better shape I have this struggle against old eating habits. When confronted with the temptation to over-eat, my mind says “you have worked so hard to get to this point and you want to go futher right?” That usually is motivation enough to be able to win against eating more sweets than I should. Which is my major downfall. But sometimes I give in and eat too much and feel remorse afterward. If I were not in the middle of getting into shape and the temptation came around I would find it much easier to give into it. The motivation factor of working against what I have accomplished lately would not exist.

The same holds true in my struggle against sin. When I am self-focused and world-focused I am vulnerable to the temptations that may come my way. My mind will say “what the heck I haven’t been focusing on anyone but me, one more won’t matter.” and that, my friends, is a definite heart issue (as my friend and pastor Chris P. would say). But on the other hand when I am consistently praying, studying God’s word, involved in ministry, trusting completely in God my motivation factor is very high to maintain this pattern. Granted if it were not for the Holy Spirit of God within me I would have no “will” power at all. Thanks be to Christ that He did provide a helper to come alongside me and encourage me to to Christ-like. The same Holy Spirit is available to everyone who believes and trusts in Christ, and in Christ alone to save them from condemnation.

Hopefully I have made myself clear on this little personal revelation. I wonder if anyone else reading this has experienced this? I would imagine if you know Christ it might make more sense. Please post comments.

1 Comment

Posted by barrydean on December 8, 2006 in Personal, Praise, Theology

Is God the author of evil?

19 Nov

Every time you plug into the news you learn of another incident where someone Christ on the cross consumed by evil perpetrating that evil on another human being. This week outside a Walmart in Putnam, Conn. two armed men attempted to rob folks waiting in line to purchase the newly released PlayStation 3 gaming system. In the attempt one man was shot because he refused to give up his money. Locally, last night (Friday) a man was shot and killed in North Omaha. Most of the world lives in fear that they will be the next victim in a evil terrorist attack.

Read the rest of this entry »

8 Comments

Posted by barrydean on November 19, 2006 in Theology

Deep thinking, deep questions

07 Nov

I really wanted to see Jason answer the question. I don’t know if the question is good conversation for football but it is a question that has come up in conversations I’ve had in recent years. Prior to coming to the knowledge of a totally sovereign God and the doctrines of grace this deep thinking occurred more times than I can remember. Can free will coexist with divine (what I think Jason really meant is) predestination? First of all what is meant by free will? Usually when people think of free will they think of individuals having their own independent will to control their own lives. If we answer that question biblically what would it be? How does it relate to salvation from our sins. The bible teaches that God has predestined those who would be saved (Rom. 8:29, Eph. 1:5) but has He also laid out our whole lives, what schools we will go to, who we will marry, how many children we will have etc. Has God predestined all of our perceived decisions? I would say yes, and no. I believe God does allow us to make decisions. We are like puppets controlled by a puppet master. If we look at this biblically I would also have to say yes, God has predestined those things. His will for our lives is already know and laid out bfore the foundation of the earth. As it says in Ephesians 1:10b, 11;