Joel Osteen It's Your Time - It's Your Time Joel Osteen Lakewood Church

Need a good bible study ?

Consider these two FREE resources from HeartCry Missionary Society. If you are not familiar with HeartCry, I would urge you to take a look at their website: http://www.hcmissions.com/ .

If you are looking for a good bible study and a lengthy one consider one of the following:

1. One True God - A Biblical Study of the Doctrine of God. You can download it free at the HeartCry resource page here - http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/resources/online_books

Or if you prefer to purchase a hard copy you can do that here - http://grantedministries.org/press.html



2. Truth About Man - A Biblical Study of the Doctrine of Man. You can download it free at the HeartCry resource page here - http://www.heartcrymissionary.com/resources/online_books

Both studies are by Paul David Washer.

Open Air Preaching 16 December 2009 - Christmas Message

Open Air Preaching December 16th 2009 Christmas Luke Chapter 2 from Return To The Truth on Vimeo.

Knowing, therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men...

God from eternity, decrees or permits all things that come to pass, and perpetually upholds, directs and governs all creatures and all events; yet so as not to destroy the free will and responsibility of intelligent creatures.

One of the most misunderstood and heavily debated areas of Christendom is the relationship between the sovereignty of our Almighty God and the free will of His creation. The moment our theology takes any glory away from God and attempts to give it to man or any other form of creation, it has strayed from the truth of the Word and the authority of Scripture.

The modern, professing church has gone astray in this area and the results have been devastating. Man-centered theology has infiltrated the professing church and has taken on many forms, from the most ludicrous to the entirely subtle and everything in between.

The chief end of man is to glorify God. Why should we glorify God, because He loves us and takes care of us. When we attempt to rob God of His glory, we become useless and commit the greatest of sins, unbelief.

The modern professing church has chosen (in their free will) to make an idol for themselves to worship, instead of worshipping the One True God.

Not to us, O LORD, not to us,

But to Your name give glory

Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.

Why should the nations say,

"Where, now, is their God?"

But our God is in the heavens;

He does whatever He pleases.

Their idols are silver and gold,

The work of man's hands.

They have mouths, but they cannot speak;

They have eyes, but they cannot see;

They have ears, but they cannot hear;

They have noses, but they cannot smell;

They have hands, but they cannot feel;

They have feet, but they cannot walk;

They cannot make a sound with their throat.

Those who make them will become like them,

Everyone who trusts in them.

Salvation is of the Lord. This has always been, and will always be the truth. If men will be saved from the wrath of God, He must save them.

Christ centered, God glorifying theology is important in every area of our Christian life and it is especially important when considering our salvation or more specifically, the doctrine of justification. Christians are declared righteous in the sight of God by faith in Jesus Christ, because of the finished work at the cross.

…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed;

The modern church has exchanged “calling on the Name of the Lord” for “the sinners prayer”. The modern church has exchanged “the call to Holiness” for “the call to a better life”. The modern church has exchanged “the One True God” for “a god made in the image of man”. The modern church has exchanged the truth of God for a lie.

The cross of Christ has always been an issue of righteousness, a demonstration of God’s righteousness … so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Attempting to minimize, trivialize or avoid the concept of propitiation is futile and results in a man-centered, diluted gospel that is truly no gospel at all.

God in His sovereignty, decreed and permitted His Son to die at the hands of ungodly men. Those same ungodly men chose in their free will to kill Him.

God in His sovereignty has decreed and permitted that He would justify, sanctify and glorify a specific number of people that He would call His own; the elect, the bride of Christ. Those same people, the elect, have made and will make a real, conscience decision to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

God in His sovereignty, has decreed and permitted that He would allow a specific number of people to die in their sins and suffer an eternity of punishment in hell forever. Those same people have made and will make a real, conscience decision to sin against God, not honor God, nor give thanks and ultimately, if given the chance, reject Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.

Salvation is of the Lord. Praise His Holy Name.

Why should I gain from His reward?

God is revealed to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit each with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence or being.

To think on the trinity is to dwell on one of the most intense of theological concepts. Wonder of wonders, one God in three persons.

As we move forward into Advent and the “Christmas Season” the trinity should grip us with a theological magnitude as it never has before.

At the very pinnacle of human history, the eternal God entered into time and chose to put on human flesh.

Many men have wanted to be God. Hitler wanted to be God, Stalin wanted to be God, Mussolini wanted to be God, but there has never been and never will be another god who chose to become a man.

… who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit agreed before the world began that He would redeem a people for Himself.

God the Father would send His Son, filled with the fullness of the Holy Spirit to walk in perfect harmony with the will of the Father who sent Him. A little baby in a manger whose little hands would one day be nailed to a tree. A little baby in a manger whose little feet one day would walk Him up the path of death to Golgotha. A little baby in a manger whose head would one day be fashioned with a crown of piercing thorns.

This little baby would grow to be despised and forsaken of men, A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; And like one from whom men hide their face He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, and by His scourging we are healed.

The trinity formed and fashioned a redemption plan and carried it out with absolute pin-point precision that no human mind can comprehend or conceive. As my pastor says so eloquently, to soar to the heights of worship we must plunge the depths of doctrine.

Let the trinity this advent and Christmas season envelope you in worship. Let the wonder of wonders amaze you and propel you to worship Him in this time of year and every time of year. No better words can I speak than some that have already been written:

How deep the Father's love for us How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son And make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss The Father turns His face away

As wounds which mar the Chosen One Bring many sons to glory

Behold the man upon the cross My sin upon His shoulders

Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there Until it was accomplished

His dying breath has brought me life I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything No gifts, no power, no wisdom

But I will boast in Jesus Christ His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom

Why should I gain from His reward I cannot give an answer

But this I know with all my heart His wounds have paid my ransom

The God of the universe, the council of the trinity, one God in three persons, decided for His glory to put on human flesh and die on a cross. God chose to become man to make a wretch His treasure. Oh how great is our God, wonder of wonders, praise His Holy Name. Amen.

Is He an add on, or is He your All-in-All?

There is but one God, the Maker, Preserver and Ruler of all things, having in and of Himself, all perfections, and being infinite in them all; and to Him all creatures owe the highest love, reverence and obedience.

God is in need of nothing, He is complete in and of Himself.

Man’s existence without God is futile. Look at philosophy, sociology or even the space program … all vain attempts at something leading to a conclusion of nothing. The end result being, “all we know now, is that we do not know“.

All men are looking, it’s just most of them are looking in the wrong place for the wrong thing. Men are created in the image of God, in fact since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.

God is the question and God is the answer. What is life all about? One simple, but powerful answer … God and His glory. We owe the highest love, reverence and obedience to the One True God, the Maker of all things.

God is not an “add on” to life, in fact apart from God, men have no life at all.

For the wages of sin is death …

Jesus said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me”.

We don’t come to the Father for our better life, we come to the Father because He is LIFE. We are dead and He makes us alive to Him … But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved).

God is in need of nothing, He is complete in and of Himself.

When we have Christ we are in need of nothing. We are complete in Christ. He is our All-in-All or we are nothing at all.

Lunch with David Miller

What a blessing it is to fellowship with brother David Miller. Brother David is an itinerant evangelist preacher who prefers the title "the Country Preacher at Large". His ministry is called Line upon line ministries. Brother David is a champion of the Christian faith and a warrior for recovering the gospel of Jesus Christ in the professing church of today.

Is it just lip service ?

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament were given by inspiration of God, and are the only sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, faith and obedience.

Most evangelicals today say that the Scriptures are not only inerrant, but that they are sufficient for everything that pertains to life and godliness. Do we really believe what we say? Do we really believe our denominational or congregational statements of faith? Or are we guilty of lip service?

The Scriptures describe the condition of man, apart from the saving grace of Jesus Christ as dead, deviant, disobedient, deranged and damned. Ephesians 2:1-3 - “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.”

This condition of man is so sinful, it is even hostile towards God. Romans 8:7 - “because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so …

Jesus said, “ MAN SHALL NOT LIVE ON BREAD ALONE, BUT ON EVERY WORD THAT PROCEEDS OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.” Matt. 4-4

The Scriptures say:

• That all human beings are born spiritually dead.

• That all human beings are separated from God because of their iniquities.

• That all human beings were counted guilty in Adam.

• That all human beings are justly condemned to hell apart from God’s grace.

The Scriptures also say that a person must be “born again” to see the kingdom of God. The supernatural work of salvation results in a “new creation”. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. - 2 Corinthians 5:17.

Make no mistake about it the Scriptures testify of Him, Jesus Christ. He is mighty to save! When Jesus Christ saves a soul, He saves them to the uttermost. Not only does Christ save, but He sanctifies and glorifies. He calls us by name to come to Him, that He might show forth His glory in saving a people for Himself.

If the Scriptures say men are dead, why do we preach men are sick?

If the Scriptures say men are hostile, why do we preach men are hurting?

If the Scriptures say men are disobedient, why do we preach men are searching?

If the Scriptures say men are damned, why do we preach men are needy?

The Scriptures are the only sufficient, certain and authoritative rule of all saving knowledge, but most of the professing church in America preaches half truths or a gospel completely void of biblical regeneration, salvation and sanctification. So, the question now becomes: How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher?

WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.

Lost sinners must call on the God of the bible, the Lord of the bible, the Jesus Christ of the bible to be saved. No substitute will do and no half truth will prevail at the judgment seat of Christ. Lost sinners must believe in the God of the bible.

For lost sinners to call on and believe in the God of the bible, they must first HEAR about the God of the bible. For lost sinners to hear about the God of the bible preachers must preach the God of the bible.

My constant prayer for the “professing church” in America and much of the world, is that we would return to the truth of God’s written word. The professing church in America is in desperate need of recovering the true gospel of Jesus Christ and returning as a whole to the biblical mandate to endure sound doctrine. Clever schemes of men are no substitute for the word of God. The sociologist, psychologist or anthropologist are no replacement for the biblical exegete.

The Scriptures are sufficient for life and godliness. Please pray for men who will stand on the word of God and preach the truth until someone gets saved or they die trying.

May God never say of us: THIS PEOPLE HONORS ME WITH THEIR LIPS, BUT THEIR HEART IS FAR AWAY FROM ME.

True Church Conference 2010

Dear fellow believer,

I want to invite you personally to come to the True Church Conference 2010. The following invitation is taken directly from the conference website which you can view at http://www.truechurchconference.org



Nothing kills a church faster than a lost passion for evangelism and missions. Losing our evangelistic fire removes the heat and life from the church. Nothing is more grievous and schizophrenic than using the Doctrines of Grace (the Gospel) as an excuse for a lack of evangelistic zeal! This is the unbalanced and extreme doctrine of “hyper-Calvinism.” Classic hyper-Calvinism is far different from true evangelistic Calvinism. To be honest, all of us need to be stirred to greater fervency in the evangelistic calling (Matthew 28:18-20).

At this time in church history, I’m convinced there is a genuine awakening to the Doctrines of Grace, but with it comes the ever-abiding temptation to go beyond a Scriptural balance. In pride, one can become tempted to love a man-made “system” of theology more than the God of that system and the souls of men. Thus begins the slide down the slippery slope of hyper-Calvinism. Our goal in this year’s conference is to cut off this serpent’s head before it is above the ground!

We’ve invited Jonathan Sims, David Miller, Barry King, and Conrad Mbewe to bring us rich expositional preaching. In addition, Dr. Michael Haykin will bring us some of the historical and practical implications of hyper-Calvinism. I will deliver a message addressing the use of altar calls and how we approach this issue at Grace Life Church of the Shoals.

This year’s conference will offer significantly more instruction and training. Because of many requests for training on practical matters, we are offering four optional break-out sessions covering ten areas of church life.

Cold, dead, fatalistic hyper-Calvinism should not even be named among us! While we will never give up the biblical and glorious God-centered Doctrines of Grace, we must fight all temptation to be slack in taking the Gospel to ALL men in ALL nations urging ALL to repent and believe.

If you share with us a passion for the glory of God in His church, we invite you to join us as we strive together to walk in truth and to build true churches for the glory of God. “To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” - Ephesians 3:21

For His glory in His church,
Jeff Noblit - Senior Pastor / Grace Life Church Of The Shoals

The Lordship debate ... who's side are you on?

Is the Lordship vs. Free Grace debate important ? You bet it is.

Consider the following when you consider what “camp” you dearly hold to in this often misunderstood doctrinal debate: The reason the Lordship debate is one of great importance is simply because the two views are at such extreme, opposite, theological ends with no reconciliation to be found.

Comparing the Lordship position to the Free Grace position is like comparing:

• 
  
  Light and Dark
  
  
  
• 
  
  Jesus Christ and Satan
  
  
  
• 
  
  Wheat and Tares
  
  
  
• 
  
  Sheep and Goats.
  
  
  

By now you get the picture. Simply put, the “no Lordship” people are taking the doctrine of “justification by faith” and perverting it into something it is not. The essence of the perversion comes in defining “saving faith”.

The most interesting point in the entirety of the debate is that there was no debate prior to about 180 years ago. Just a cursory look back into evangelical history will show that spurious or non-saving faith wasn’t an argued point. It was not until the altar call was invented until the need arose for this debate. Prior to the altar call, it was a well understood fact that faith without works is dead. We know that dead faith is not saving faith. You would think this would end the debate, but let's go on.

In fact, in light of Matthew 7:21 a verbal profession of faith alone is worth absolutely nothing on the Day of Judgment. “Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.”

If you take a Savior Only position, or No Lordship position of Jesus Christ in the work of Salvation, you are saying that one can enter through the “narrow gate”, but somehow end up walking on the “broad path”. Even more ludicrous would be to say you could gather grapes from thorn bushes or figs from among the thistles!

You might guess then, that we are able to know the true child of God by their fruit. Not to mention the IRON CLAD testimony of Scripture in 1 John 3:10, "By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother."

So what is the real issue … what is the sore spot of this debate? SIN is the issue. To give you a clear understanding of the complete picture let’s start at the beginning.

First and foremost let’s start with the infallibility and the sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures. The bible is the word of God and is absolutely and completely sufficient to handle this discussion on it’s own without opinions being interjected on either side.

The bible is the story of the redemption of man.

The free grace position holds to a faulty view of regeneration call “decisional regeneration”. Take a look at biblical regeneration. Regeneration is the act of a sovereign God creating a new creature. Regeneration is God, for His own good pleasure and purpose, supernaturally transplanting a man from his sinful, fallen, hell bound condition to a position of granting him repentance, faith and eternal life. It is called being born again.

In John 3 Jesus said, “The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit”

Men in history have always been, and were obviously not satisfied with God’s church growth method. Somewhere about 150 to 200 years ago a preacher got the idea that he could coax, coerce and motivate people into making long, drawn out, emotional laden, public professions of faith. He was successful and birthed the “altar call” response system we see so prevalent in the professing church today. Pragmatism takes over from there and the rest is history, ugly history.

Although decisions for Christ were readily being made, the bulk of these decisions didn’t last. People were not being changed. I could bore you with polls, statistics and historical facts that demonstrate that the bulk of the professing, modern church look, act, think and generally live life just like the sinful world, but I won’t. I won’t bore you with stories, but just take a look around your own family and friends … ask your family and friends if they are Christians. Ask them if they died today where they think their eternal destiny will be. Go ahead and try it. Ask the drunkard, the thief, the liar, in fact go to the local jail and ask all the hardened criminals on death row. You will find the overwhelming majority of people really believe that they are going to heaven, and the demonstration of their life, or the sins they continue to commit have absolutely no bearing on a past decision of faith. They entered through the narrow gate one day at church, revival service or an evangelical crusade and yet never took one step onto the narrow path. They continue to run down the broad path to their own destruction with a smile on their face, because some silly preacher or worse yet a “numbers running” preacher told them they were saved because they prayed and asked Jesus to come into their heart.

The gospel call has always been and will always be to “repent and believe” (Mark 1:15). Pray a sinner's prayer if you want, walk down the aisle, stand up at the crusade and visit the prayer room, but whatever you do, don’t mistake God for an unjust idol. Don’t think the God that created you is somehow magically amazed because you “did” some ritual at the front, back or even outside the church.

God did not send His Son to die on a cross so that you could pray a prayer and remain in your sins. God sent His Son to save His people from their sins. God sent His Son to purchase a people for Himself that would glorify Him with good works.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.

What does the born again Christian look like.

If you are genuinely born again, you will walk in the way of righteousness as a style of life; and if you step off the path, the narrow path, the Father will come for you and discipline you to bring you back on the narrow path. If you can walk in sin, live in sin, continue in sin and yet you profess Christ you ought to be terrified of the state of your soul and your eternal destination.

We don’t tell people they are saved; we tell them how to be saved. Tell them how to get saved and let God tell them they are saved.

Jesus is Lord and Savior or He is nothing at all. Prophet, Priest and King are offices we do not have the authority to usurp or divide. Christ is Lord.

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