12.05.2024

Ugly Class Name

Week 1 of class

"How Do I Pray AND/OR Prepare for Ministry AND/OR Missions?" may be one of the worst class titles I have ever used.
According to online sources, "AND / OR" is ugly and inelegant.
Two "AND / OR"s are even uglier and more inelegant.

The title is not only ugly but also confusing. Some people may not join the class because they don't think it is for them.  

However, the title is accurate, and I wouldn't change it.  This post will explain why it is an ugly but accurate title for the class and review what we discussed in the first session (12.01.24).

Why this class?

Churches need to be praying more for missions and ministry. 
Everyone should be praying for these things.  This class will dedicate part of each session to pray for specific ministries and missionaries of Trinity Baptist Church.  The problem is not a complete lack of prayer in our church but too little God-dependent prayer.  “When prayer is sparse and sporadic when it’s done just enough to ease the conscience and not much more, we’ve got a problem.”  (Onwuchekwa, 18)

Churches must identify, challenge, and prepare people for vocational ministry and missions.  This will help the church fulfill its disciple-making mission NOW and in the FUTURE.  In an effort to help everyone understand that whatever and wherever you work, you do it for the glory of God, the church has forgotten the significance of pursuing vocational ministry and missions.  Full-time ministry roles in the local church and missionary roles across cultural, language, and geographical lines are great works. 

So, who would benefit from this class? 

Generally
Anyone who wants to grow as a prayer warrior and disciple-making.  

Specifically,
Those who want to learn how to specifically pray for the ministries of Trinity Baptist Church, other churches, and the universal church.
Those who are prayerfully considering or currently pursuing vocational ministry.
Those who are prayerfully considering or currently pursuing missions work.

In this first introductory session, we examined First Corinthians 4:1 - 21, some observations from the class, and D.A. Carson's book The Cross & Christian Ministry.

This passage was broken into three parts.

First Corinthians 4:1 - 7

Carson writes that Christian leadership means being entrusted with the "mysteries of God" and being a servant of Christ.  A Christian leader's loyalty must first be to Jesus.  This loyalty is lived out as one pursues godly righteousness.  In looking through the qualifications for an elder and a deacon, note that most of the list is made up of character qualities every believer should be pursuing these things. 

The "mysteries of God" that have been entrusted to leaders is not some high, secret knowledge that is only revealed to some people.  It is the Gospel, which was a shadown in the Old Testament and is now made clear in Jesus Christ.  

First Corinthians 4:8 - 13

Carson says Christian leadership means living life in the light of the cross.  He goes on to say, "Paul's language is now steeped in biting irony."  The Corinthians thought they had all they needed. 
Christian leaders will be reviled, persecuted, and slandered.  In each of these situations the godly leader will bless, endure, and seek to bring reconciliation.



 

First Corinthians 4:14 - 21

We are reminded that Christian leadership means "encouraging, and if necessary, enforcing the way of the cross, among the people of God."  It is not only about gathering information but also about living out what one believes.  Paul encourages the church to imitate him as he follows Christ.  The goal is not more Pauls.  The goal is for more disciples living for God's glory through Jesus Christ.  Christian leaders, through encouragement and, when needed, discipline.

 BOTTOMLINE:

The Christian leader sets the example by
Proclaiming the Gospel
Living life in the light of the Gospel
Fostering genuine Christian living in the church and the world.

11.27.2024

Praying and Preparing for Ministry and Missions

I am excited to teach a class this winter quarter entitled "How Do I Pray for and/or Prepare for Ministry and Missions?"

First, I want to tell you what this class is NOT.

It is not only for those who want to be a pastor or missionary.  

It is not an automatic seal of ministry approval.  

It is not in-depth training for a specific ministry role.

Who is this class for?

If you want to pray more for ministry and missions, this class is for you.

If you want to learn more about full-time ministry and/or missions, this class is for you.

If you want to learn more about ministries in the local church, especially Trinity Baptist Church, with the purpose of praying, refocusing on what God is doing through the ministri, and learning more about the ministry of TBC.

What is meant by "ministry and missions?"

Here is a list to think about:

  • International missions
  • local missions and ministry
  • pastors
  • elders
  • deacons and deaconesses
  • teachers of adults, youth, and children
  • the main part of the class discussion in the first two weeks

What is the class going to cover?

Several definitions of what ministry and missions are.

Reminders and some tips related to the importance of the Bible for personal, spiritual growth and understanding ministry and mission.

Reminders and helps related the importance of prayer for personal, spiritual growth and ministry and mission.

The character of a leader, specifically as it relates to church leadership

The challenges facing a leader, specifically as it relates to church leadershp

Men in ministry and missions

Women in ministry and missions

Teaching and Serving Helps

Elders, Deacons, Deaconesses, and the Congregation  

 Here is the class description:  

This class is designed to help those interested in praying for and/or pursuing ministry (teaching a class, leading a small group, serving as an elder, deacon, or deaconess, pursuing missions, or pastoral ministry).  It wi be filled with prayer, practical ministry helps, and encouraging one another and ourselves to become even more equipped for the Gospel work in the church, community, and worldwide. 

11.20.2024

Tough Questions Week 11

Using the PRAY acrostic, we took time to pray about several of the topics discussed throughout this quarter

You can read more about what we discussed and learned by clicking on the link.
Here are the prayer requests that we shared 

POLITICS  (Part 1)  (Part 2)

  • Praise and Thanking God
    • God is sovereign over all.
    • For the country we live in
    • For the freedom of worship we have in the United States
  • Repent
    • of trusting man and politics more than God
    • Indifference
    • Selfishness and pride
    • Identifying ourselves and others by political party rather than image bearers in need of a Savior
  • Ask & Yield
    • The people of our country would look to Jesus Christ as their savior
    • Ongoing freedom of worship here and a growing passion for God
    • For the ongoing passion for God in countries where the church faces persecution - India, Uzbekistan, China, and other places

ABORTION

  • Praise and Thanking God
    • Strategically placed pregnancy centers
    • God is the author of life
    • God is compassionate and holy
  • Repentance
    • Indifference - nationally and individually
    • Wrongly representing Christ
  • Ask & Yield
    • Jesus Christ would change people's hearts
    • Jesus Christ would change the laws of this land
  • Praise and Thanking God
    • God is the creator of sex and marriage.
    • Opportunities to reach people who need Jesus Christ as their Savior, including those in LGBTQIA2S+ community
    • People who share the truth of the Gospel
    • People who have been saved
  • Repent
    • Indifference 
    • Compromise 
    • Not loving and sharing with people who need Jesus
    • Identifying people by the sexuality 
  • Ask & Yield
    • Show me where I need to caring for and talking to family, friends, and others.
    • Work in our minds and hearts as it relates to our attitudes
    • Remember the great, life-changing power of the Gospel
CHILDREN (these prayer points are for parents and anyone in a church that desires to minister to parents and children)
  • Praise and Thanking God
    • God has brought children into our lives as parents and as a church family
    • Children are a gift from the Lord
  •  Repent
    • Making our children an idol
    • Thinking that we can save our children and forgetting that it is Jesus who saves
  • Ask & Yield
    • Plead with God to work in our children's live
    • We would point our children to Jesus


At the end of class, I said I would share some resources about Christian Nationalism.
Here are some of those links:

Christian Nationalism appears to have begun as a slam or a put-down, but over time, it seems to have been embraced by some.  It is a confusing term because people have differing ideas about it. 
The bottom line is that true, eternal life change comes only through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we cannot make laws to make people worship God. Life change and worship are not political issues.

The Christian Faithfulness article makes the distinction between Christian Faithfuness and Christian Nationalism.

11.07.2024

Tough Questions Week 9

This post and other Tough Questions posts don't necessarily reflect the beliefs of all the pastors and elders at Trinity.  I use this blog to share things I am teaching and thinking about.  

Also, note that this is written by a pastor who loves and wants to help people grow as disciples of Christ and glorify God in everything he does.

The Tough Questions class has examined general doctrine, abortion, politics, parenting philosophies, and school choice.  These lessons began with a common belief, and the challenging part was the different responses.

This lesson on election begins with different beliefs, and the goal is a common response.  Many writers say this is one of, if not the most, controversial doctrines in the church.  "Just because I don't understand how something can true, does not mean it is not so."  See Romans 11:34.

The goal of the Week 9 lesson and this post is not to end the debate on this issue because I would be foolish to think I could do that.  The goal is to help those in the class, those at Trinity Baptist Church, and anyone reading this post make much of God and His Work in our salvation.  

I want to offer three challenges when considering election/predestination and free will. 

When you consider God's sovereignty and man's responsibility, there is an antinomy—an appearance of a contradiction between conclusions that seem equally logical, reasonable, or necessary.  In Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God, J.I. Packer writes, "God's sovereignty is a reality, and man's responsibility is a reality too."  This appearance of a contradiction in our minds is so hard to grasp.

Another challenge when discussing this issue is that both sides are often attached to men rather than scripture.  The debate becomes more about what Calvin vs. Arminius or Augustine vs. Pelagius said than what the Bible says.  Both sides often construct faulty arguments and make straw men of the viewpoint.

A third challenge at the heart of this debate is that humans are trying to understand God's mind, which is impossible.  God is God.  We are not, and thank God we are not God.

So, what is the doctrine of election?

The free and sovereign choice of God made in eternity past based on nothing in the person solely because of the good pleasure of His will to be saved from sin and inherit the blessing on eternal life.  (author unknown)

God is the author, provider, perfecter, and finisher of my salvation.

There are verses that show God's sovereignty in salvation and others that show man's responsibility for salvation.  

Here are some verses that show man's responsibility.

Ezekiel 18:23 says that God does not have "any pleasure in the death of the wicked rather than that he should turn from his ways and live."  

First Timothy 2:3, 4 says God "desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth."

Second Peter 3:9 says God is "not wishing any to perish but for all to come to repentance."

Acts 17:4 says Paul persuaded some people, and they joined Paul and Silas.

Acts 17:27 - 34 describes people seeking, groping for, and finding God.  At the end of this time in Athens, it is written that some men joined and believed.

Here are verses that show the importance of God's sovereignty in salvation, along with a brief statement after each.

Ephesians 1:4 - 5

even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved.

Verse 3 states that God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing.  Then, several verses later, verse 11 says, "In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will"

Throughout Ephesians 1, Paul reminds the church that God has predestined, chosen, willed, and blessed us with salvation.  These are words from the chapter.  

Romans 8:29 - 34

For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Be sure to check out Pastor Brett's sermons in Romans at tbcgr.org/sermons-romans.html

2 Thessalonians 2:13

But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the firstfruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth.

In 2 Thessalonians 2:13, "the divine element in election (sanctification by the Spirit - being set apart by God) and the human element in personal salvation (faith in the truth)."  (Stallard)

Other verses to consider are Acts 13:48, 16:14, Ephesians 2:8, and 2 Timothy 2:8.

I want to respond to the verses earlier in this post, which I have divided into two groups.  

Ezekiel 18:23, 1st Timoty 2:3, 4, and 2nd Peter 3:9 discuss God's desire, not man's response.  Greg Koukl has a five-minute video entitled "Does God Literally Desire All to be Saved?

The two verses in Acts 17 discuss what Paul did and how the people responded.  These two narratives explain what people saw as God working through Paul and in the people.   

“C. H. Spurgeon was once asked if he could reconcile these two truths to each other. “I wouldn’t try,” he replied; 'I never reconcile friends.' Friends?—yes, friends. This is the point that we have to grasp. In the Bible, divine sovereignty and human responsibility are not enemies. They are not uneasy neighbors; they are not in an endless state of cold war with each other. They are friends, and they work together.”  (Evangelism and Sovereignty of God , J.I. Packer)

10.27.2024

Tough Questions Week 8


PARENTING is not dependent on programs and human plans. 
It is dependent upon God, His Word, and His Grace.

"Our Children don’t belong to us but to God.  Parenting is about what God has planned to do in our children through us.”  Paul Tripp

Here are videos about the 14 Gospel Principles from Paul Tripp's Parenting book 

Calling
Grace
Law
Inability
Identity
Process
Lost
Authority
Foolishness
Character
False Gods
Control
Rest
Mercy

SCHOOLS

What I've Learned About School Choice

  1. School isn’t a right and wrong decision.
  2. School isn’t necessarily a one-and-done decision.
  3. School isn’t entirely our decision.
  4. School isn’t a salvation decision.

CHILDREN’S MINISTRY

KIDZ:  Kids and families Intentionally Discipled Zealously.

Zealous by David Michael tbcgrkidz.blogspot.com/2022/02/zealous-introduction.html

Zeal is so much more than enthusiasm and excitement.  "It is the result of a heart on fire for the glory of God that is uncontainable and spills out in zealous evangelism, discipleship, service, and good works." (p. 13)

1. Embrace a Biblical Vision for the Faith of the Next Generation 

2. Foster a Robust Partnership Between Church and Home

3. Teach the Breadth and Depth of the Whole Counsel of God

4. Proclaiming the Glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ

5. Disciple the Mind, Heart and the Will

6. Prayerful Dependence on God's Grace

7. Inspire Worship of God, for the Glory of God