New Q & A's

There are two new Q&A's posted on the site today. You can access them by going to the "What's New" page. One is entitled "The Great Commission." It's a question concerning the necessity of Biblical evangelization versus the pressure and guilt often associated with a misunderstanding of Jesus' instruction to HIs apostles. The other Q&A is called "Trusting Scripture" and is a dialog concerning the various books and writings that considered Holy Writ by different religions and sects. How does the Bible stack up against those other books and can we know for sure that the Bible is uniquely the word of God?

Anyway, I hope it's edifying reading and good food for thught.

Enjoy. Comments and feedback are welcome.

Sometimes my email says it best ...

Hi Pastor Jim,

I heard something today that made me so angry! As you already know, I firmly believe the truth that God elects who will spend eternity with Him and who will perish. I understand that salvation is not dependant on what we do, it's a gift that is freely given to God's chosen children. Well, here's a story about what I heard today. Gotta get your thoughts on this one!

While driving in my car today, I turned on the radio and happened to hear a local pastor preaching a sermon. Thought I would check it out and hear what he had to say. I thought I would be inspired. But instead, I got mad! He was speaking about salvation and whether people will go to Heaven or hell. He actually said that it is up to us to decide whether we will be saved or not. Get this...he actually picked apart Scripture and said that "God's will is that no one shall perish." He used that specific verse to support his reasoning for stating that salvation is strictly based upon free will.

It gets better, or should I say, worse. He continued to say that people have to be given the option of whether or not to choose salvation because if God were to take away that option, then He would be taking away the "free will" of man. At that point, Pastor Jim, I screamed in my car. I WAS SO AGGRAVATED! Wonder if anyone saw me! :)

Anyway, I just immediately felt sick to my stomach because I knew that many people were being misled today because of that broadcast. How can a preacher speak something that is strictly opposite of what God's word teaches? How can their conscience allow them to do it? Or, a better question would be, are they hiding the truth because if they told the truth, not as many people would be filling up the seats in their church?

Through faithfully listening to you for over 9 months now, I've grown so much in my understanding of the Scripture. Thank God that Todd told me about your website. Thank God that there are pastors like you who are not afraid to speak the truth.

You know what I've come to realize as I continue to grow in my understanding of Scripture? I've learned that Christ is the only person that I need to have approval from. I don't need to seek approval from the world. I need to keep seeking God's truth and studying His word. When we sincerely devote ourselves to studying the Bible and to spending quiet time with the Lord, it isn't a chore, it's pure joy. There's nothing that compares to His love. It's incredible!

May God continue to bless you and your congregation for "standing up"
for the truth!

How To Speak Like a Theologian

Phil Johnson (the director of McArthur’s Grace to You – who also does the Spurgeon Archive site) has a new blog site called Pyromaniac.

He had a funny link on it about creating theological constructs that you might enjoy trying. Here's the link:

steve.poling.info/theofun.html

Try it yourself and soon you too will sound like a knowledgeable, well-read member of the intellectual elite.

Wow ... it's like theology without the effort!

Help!

Last year when I was preaching the Sovereignty 101 to 106 series, I had a list of verses as a Word document that I offered to anyone who wanted it. I think I called it "Sovereign Verses," or something like that. Well, that was before the great hard drive crash of '05 and now I don't have a copy of that document. I would like to have a copy of that list of verses since I had taken the time to compile it and it will be a help to me in the future.

So, if you're one of the people who received a copy of the Sovereign Verses list, would you please email it back to me?

Thank very much!

Sovereign Grace Place

Some of our listeners have expressed a desire for an internet/email-based chat group where they can visit with others who believe Sovereign Grace theology. So, some friends of GCA down in Georgia have taken the initiative and established Sovereign Grace Place, a place for fellowship and discussion among GCA's extended congregation.

Are you intested in joining us? (Yes, I will also be lurking around there)

Here's all you have to do. Drop me an email. My email address is:

Jim@Salvationbygrace.org

I will forward your request to the administrator who will send you an invitation to join the group. Click through the info links and you're in! By using this method, we can filter out the troublemakers who haunt most theology groups and keep the site dedicated to a Christian atmostphere.

So, drop me a line and join us! Remember - this is what you make it. GCA is not driving the conversation. The more people who make use of the site and join the conversations, the more successful the whole venture will be. We'll look forward to seeing YOU there!

Romans Lesson 35

Slowly, but surely - bit by bit - I'm getting the Romans series cleaned up and posted on our site. The latest installment is "R35 - Romans 9:14-20" and it's available now.

Man, is it really June of 2005? Time is rushing by. One of these days (hopefully in the not-too-distant-future), our Lord will appear in the Heavens and call His people home. I believe everything the Bible declares about His eventual return and our gathering to Him. To lay down the burden of this life and take up our immortal bodies is the goal of Christianity. Whatever stuff we accumulate in this lifetime - money, power, wealth - is a blessing from God, for which we should be grateful. But, I look forward to leaving all my "stuff" behind and receiving my true reward: life eternal with the Lord who ever-loved me and bought me with His own blood.

And with each day that ticks off the calendar, that moment of triumph grows closer.

"Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, "DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP in victory. " O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR VICTORY? O DEATH, WHERE IS YOUR STING?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your toil is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Cor 15:51-58)