Working Wednesday: Speaking

This past Sunday, president Tom Lothamer spoke at Haddon Heights Baptist Church in Haddon Heights, New Jersey. He and his wife are able to combine this engagement with seeing their grandchildren and meeting donors.

In addition to updating the church on what Life Matters is doing, Tom spoke from Acts 4 on boldness:

"There is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”

Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. And seeing the man who had been healed standing with them, they had nothing to say in reply.

He'll be in the the following churches the next several weeks as they focus on the sanctity of human life:

• Faith Baptist Church in Geneseo, IL - Jan. 20
• Whitneyville Bible Church in Alto, MI - Jan. 27
• Calvary Baptist Church in Quincy, IL - Feb. 3
• First Baptist Church in Silvis, IL - Feb. 10

Monday musing: Calling all patient persuaders!

While some people are critical of social networking (and the Internet in general) as being a time-waster and a dangerous source of filth and misinformation, I'm a fan. Unlike mainstream media, it's a form of communication that we can turn to our advantage.

I wouldn't be blogging if I didn't think so, but I do acknowledge the truth of what the critics say. As with any good thing, moderation and discipline are advised. I want to add another misuse to the list: Social media such as Facebook and Twitter give occasion for people to spout off in ways they probably would not in polite company.

I can't count the number of times I've cringed at the response of someone who claims to be a Christian because what he or she has said is disrespectful or hateful. Mom was right: We should think before we post.

And we should apply Paul's words to Timothy about communication with or about opponents:

The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome, but be kind to all, able to teach, patient when wronged, with gentleness correcting those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been held captive by him to do his will. (2 Timothy 24-26)

I apply these words this way:

• The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome . . . on Facebook or in comments posted elsewhere online. I don't think this means we shouldn't respond, but we mustn't be argumentative. Any reply should be for the reader's benefit and not for me to "score points."

• The Lord's bond-servant must be kind to all . . . on Facebook or in comments posted elsewhere online. I take this to mean there ought not be any name-calling, verbal abuse, or harshness.

• The Lord's bond-servant must be able to teach . . . on Facebook or in comments posted elsewhere online. Teaching is something other than the clever jab or sound byte. It requires time and patience. More on this below.

• The Lord's bond-servant must be patient when wronged . . . on Facebook or in comments posted elsewhere online. Oh, it's so tempting to retaliate when the other side calls us a name or is harsh and abusive about an idea or person we admire -- abundant evidence of that online -- but their behavior doesn't excuse our responding in kind. "Love keeps no record of wrongs." We also don't have to rebut every charge made against our side.

• The Lord's bond-servant must with gentleness correct those who are in opposition . . . on Facebook or in comments posted elsewhere online. If repentance is the goal-- and it always is -- then gentleness is the key for dealing with opponents.

It's tempting to say nothing when we can't think of something nice to say, but the unborn can't afford our silence. I'd like to take this opportunity to challenge all of us to become an army of patient persuaders as described by Paul. If we can't learn to articulate our beliefs in ways that appeal to others, then can we at least point them to resources that can be counted on to not bash them over the head? Here are a couple good ones:

Stand to Reason - basic Christian apologetics
Life Training Institute - pro-life apologetics (see related The Case for Life)

One last thought: Our opponents are not exempt from kind treatment because they advocate the killing of innocent unborn human babies. At the time of writing 2 Timothy, Paul was in prison awaiting execution by Nero. He didn't allow fear or hatred to deter him from attempting to persuade guards and soldiers -- who had participated in the deaths of other Christians -- to accept Christ as Savior. He took great delight in the Gospel going forth, even though it might have been done out of spite (Phil. 1:12-17). And, while he acknowledged the harm some Christians had done to him, he prayed God wouldn't hold it against them (2 Tim. 4:16). That's something to remember the next time we're attacked.

Related: 
Should pro-lifers verbally "bash" anyone? (on Facebook)
Monday Musing for October 5: Love the enemy
Monday Musing for September 17: Christians in an age of aggression

Postscript: The reason we often lack graceful speech is we fail to rely on the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, in Luke 12:11-12, "When they bring you before the synagogues and the rulers and the authorities, do not worry about how or what you are to speak in your defense, or what you are to say; for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” Thus it might be advantageous to learn to cite Scripture and not certain radio talk show hosts who may or may not always speak from a biblical point of view.

A Message from a Bachelor Pastor to His Congregation before His Wedding

The Gospel Coalition: Steve DeWitt has been Senior Pastor at Bethel Church in Crown Point, Indiana for 14 years. At the age of 44, Steve just preached his last sermon as a single man. He offers some important advice for single people:

I want to speak frankly to the matter of sexual purity. I have fought the fight for purity since my first real girlfriend in 10th grade. That is 28 years. It’s hard to believe. As an adult single in the Christian dating scene, it is frightening to see how little concern there generally is about sexual purity. Yet God’s Word makes it clear, God’s will is for our sanctification – that we control our bodies with holiness and honor. If you would have told the 18-year-old me I would still be dating in my 40s, I would have thought, “Well, at least the temptations aren’t as strong. You’re old. You probably don’t even think about it.” I actually think in some ways it’s harder as an adult than as a college student.

In spite of all the struggles and challenges, purity is worth it. After 28 years of battling this, let me share a few lessons I have learned.

I’m Tired of Hearing “The Gospel”

I’m Tired of Hearing “The Gospel” (Warning: Mild Rant) – Pure Church by Thabiti Anyabwile: "I know I need Jesus. I know the news is good. I need reminders specifically enumerating the reasons why."

'via Blog this'

Louder than the ‘Silent Scream’: the deafening silence of our pulpits

Louder than the ‘Silent Scream’: the deafening silence of our pulpits | Breakpoint.org: In the months since Rolley Haggard published We Could End Abortion ‘Overnight’—If We Really Wanted To at Breakpoint.org, he's been stunned by "the thunderous silence from evangelical pastors. I’ve gotten loads of feedback from lay evangelicals and Catholics—clergy and laypersons alike—but almost nothing from evangelical ministers. It has left me wondering, 'Do they agree? Do they disagree? Does this register even the slightest flutter on their moral seismograph?'

"So this time I’m explicitly soliciting feedback. Help me understand. You who pastor an evangelical church, what do you think of this 'One-Minute Strategy' to end abortion? It seems to me that to say nothing about it is to say everything."

Editor: For what it's worth, here's why I believe his idea is not coherent -- Is there an overnight solution to abortion?

After reading some of the comments to Haggard's follow-up article, I would add a few thoughts to my original response. I have heard of pastors that speak out against abortion too often, perhaps to the point of trying the patience of their congregation. And no one wants to hear a political "spot" every week. It wouldn't always be appropriate.

We need pastoral leadership on this issue, but in a wholistic manner. There's a problem that no one speaks about -- that of making pregnancy from sexual sin something to cover up. Abortion is the perfect solution if you want to hid your sexual sin. As I said before, all sin stems from the heart, and abortion is tied especially to sexual sin. 

For more, please read these new items on our website:

• The Pro-Life Message
• Pro-Life to the Core
• Compassion Ministries
• Avoiding Abortion
• Preventing Abortion

'via Blog this'

Be reconciled to God . . . NOW!

We won't solve the world's problems until we solve the Christian problem: audio message by Jim Harden of CompassCare

The Christian's Responsibility in a Pagan Society, Part 1

The Christian's Responsibility in a Pagan Society, Part 1: John MacArthur preached the following in 1993 --

I hear a lot of talk today about the church impacting culture. But frankly, folks, that's not our goal. It sounds like a noble goal and I'm sure there are people who can see certain noble aspects of it and there may be some. But our goal is not to impact our culture by changing their moral values. Our goal is not to impact our culture by creating traditional values, family values through legislation or judicial process. Our goal is not to make sure that the United States of America adheres to a national policy that equates to biblical morality. We are not involved in altering social morality. We are not involved in upgrading cultural conduct. We are interested in people becoming saved. That is our only agenda. If we're going to change our culture we're going to change it from the inside out. 

. . . Paul never ever says in any of his letters, "Now, ladies and gentlemen, we need to moralize our pagan culture. We need to impact our culture some how." No, all he ever said was, "We need to evangelize it." And he wasn't calling for any kind of protest. He wasn't calling for any kind of contention or any kind of war against the existing mentality, he was calling for the preaching of the gospel that transforms the life. But it wasn't just the preaching, it was the living within the church and outside the church that gave a platform that made the message believable.

'via Blog this'

Should churches observe SOHLS?

Ligonier Ministries: Sanctity of Life [Human] Sunday is as fitting, as sensible, as reasonable as observing the Incarnation from the pulpit. Just as we must preach the glory of the incarnation, sometime, if not in December, so we must preach the horror of this evil sometime, if not in January. To be silent is to be complicit. 

Editor: Of course, he's right, but he takes the most roundabout way of getting to the point. Who cares about church calendars? Certainly not Baptists! But the point is, the sanctity of human life is a thread woven throughout scripture. It's not too hard to find, and the subject doesn't always have to be abortion. In fact, I think we can do better than proof-texting the way this speaker does.

“Fearfully and Wonderfully Made” – Message by Rev. Tom Joyce

FEARFULLY AND WONDERFULLY MADE from IBC on Vimeo.

The Gospel in an Abortion Culture

Russell Moore: Every time pastors and church leaders speak [about abortion], they are speaking, at least potentially, to these men and women, the aborting and the abortionists. Many of these people don’t argue that the “fetus” is a “person.” Their consciences testify to that, and they’re either tortured by this or violently trying to sear over that persistent internal message.

The answer, for the church, is to preach the gospel to the conscience.

For many evangelicals, to “preach the gospel” seems to be obvious and ineffective because they think this means to, by rote, prompt people to accept Jesus and go to heaven. But the gospel speaks right where the abortion culture is in slavery, to the conscience.

For one thing, those guilty of this silent atrocity often don’t think we’re talking to them. For some, the demonic structures have helped them to conceal this secret, and to convince them the safest thing to do is to try to forget it altogether. Others are so burdened down by guilt, they really don’t believe they are included in the “whosoever will” of our gospel invitations.

Speak directly to these people. To the woman who has had the abortion. To the man who has paid for an abortion. To the health care worker who has profited off of tearing apart the bodies of the young and the consciences of their parents.

Speak clearly of the horror of judgement to come. Confirm what every accusing conscience already knows: clinic privacy laws cannot keep all this from being exposed at the tribunal of Christ. When the Light shines, there’s not enough darkness in which to hide and cringe.

But don’t stop there.

Challenging the Powers of Death with the Gospel of Life

Bloodguilt reflects God's intention to vindicate each precious life---created in his own glorious image---and to avenge innocent lives cut down. For such things there is a reckoning (Lev. 24:17). [See also Genesis 9:5-6]

According to Deuteronomy 21, the shedding of innocent blood leaves everyone in the community under bloodguilt. Those who actively shed blood are guilty. Those who watch it or take no steps to stop it are guilty. Even if you can pray, "Our hands did not shed this blood, nor did our eyes see it shed" (Deut. 21:7), the whole community is still under bloodguilt. An act of atonement is required (Deut. 21:8). Only then will the bloodguilt be "purged" (Deut. 21:9).

If someone you love is murdered, you have no trouble understanding the preeminent nature of this evil. Everything is affected. When a stranger is murdered (Deut. 21:1), you are apt to shrug, go to work, and believe things are not much affected. This is the corrupting lie.

. . . We need to bring the main thing---the cross---to bear on the one thing that most plagues the conscience of this generation and hamstrings their service to God: the disaster of sexual sin that so often ends in the death of the weak and innocent. Tragically, many addressing the bloodguilt of abortion today offer a sprinkling of gospel on a plateful of Kübler-Ross. The abortion-recovery materials now in circulation tend to be anthropocentric, therapeutic Band-Aids over the wasting disease of the soul produced by abortion.

We need you, preachers and teachers. We need theologically rigorous instruction about the sufficiency of the gospel to cleanse away the bloodguilt of abortion and to reconcile us to God. Abortion needs to be called out by name, confessed with tears, and brought under a gospel that atones, justifies, propitiates, expiates, and brings us peace. Gospel Coalition

David Platt on Abortion

The Abort73 Blog: David Platt on Abortion: Earlier this month, David Platt of The Church at Brook Hills in Birmingham, AL, preached on abortion–I believe for the first time. The topic snuck up on him in a way, when he landed on Psalm 78:5-6. It reads, 'He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn.'

Preparing for a series on the importance of faithfully imparting the gospel to the coming generations, he immediately asked himself, 'how will we pass the gospel onto the next generation, if we eliminate the children yet unborn?' That question became the basis for his July 3 message, 'The Child Yet Unborn.'

Get to Know: FamilyFacts.org

FamilyFacts.org provides data on the family and religious practice and analysis of their role in maintaining civil society in America. Get relevant facts for sermons and lessons, such as this chart:

John MacArthur: Creation Day 6, Part 2

Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3 talks about the purposes of God, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ...why?...just as He chose us in Him before...what?...the foundation of the world." So the whole divine decree unfolded before time began, before anything was ever created. And this was in the council of the trinity. Verse 4 says, "He predestined us." He did it simply because of His own will. . . .

Now this gets personal in Revelation chapter 13 and Revelation chapter 17 where twice in both cases, chapter 13 verse 8, and chapter 17 verse 8, it says the same thing, it refers to believers as those whose names have been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life. Those whose names have been written from the foundation of the world in the Book of Life. And again it takes us back before the foundation of the world. . . .

It is true that as a human being I resemble the creatures in my physical corporeal form. I am made up of flesh. I am made up of the same components. I am made up of the same atomic material, the same raw elements. But what makes me distinct is my invisible part. It's the part that you can't find in my DNA. It's the part that's not in the chromosomes. It's that invisible self. It's that true person that makes me like God, that is capable of relationship with you and with God. Grace to You

Listen to, download, or read the rest of the series on The Battle for the Beginning.

Pure desire

Dr. Gary Inrig of Trinity Church in Redlands, CA, says appeals to traditional morality or to moralistic self-effort to resist the tide of our sex-saturated society are not only futile; they miss the power and purpose of the gospel. Pure Desire sermon files

Addressing Pro-Life Excuses: I Don't Want to Offend Anyone

Addressing Pro-Life Excuses: I Don't Want to Offend Anyone on Abortion | LifeNews.com: We have allowed this evil act to be diminished to just a “tough decision” that a woman has to make. I am sorry but this is not a decision anyone should have the right to make; it is an act of homicide that cannot be justified. I don't set out to offend; I set out to tell the truth. In doing so, I know people will be offended and feelings will be hurt. This is true of almost every evil we confront.

Abortion and African Americans

Abortion and African Americans, Christian News, The Christian Post: Truth does have a place in the public square, and the Church must never be silent when it comes to defending the life and dignity of “all of God’s children.”

A pastor talks to pastors about defending the sanctity of human life

Jer 22:16 says about the king, “He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?” declares the LORD. Personhood FL

Flipping the fear about preaching on abortion

Flipping the fear about preaching on abortion | LifeSiteNews.com: A woman wrote, “I can’t help but think that if twenty years ago I heard a sermon in my church against abortion, I would have found the strength to keep my baby instead of killing my baby.” Since then, countless women, as well as men, have said the same to Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. He goes on to write about how if nothing is said about abortion from the pulpit, congregants may conclude [paraphrasing to fit our context]:

a) My pastor doesn't know about the pain I have from my abortion;

b) My pastor knows my pain, but doesn't care;

c) My pastor knows and cares about my pain, but there's no hope. Nothing can be done to heal it.

Editor: BFL highly recommends the book Living in His Forgiveness (by Sandy Day) as a resource for post-abortion ministry and healing.

“I'm pro-life, but we just need to preach the Gospel”

I cannot tell you how many pastors throw this at me as an excuse for not getting involved with pro-life work or even talking about it from the pulpit. It actually surprises me that a pastor would even try to justify his apathy and lack of involvement in standing up for life. Obviously, our main focus is to spread the Gospel, but the idea that taking a stand for the almost 4,000 children that are being ripped limb from limb every day by surgical abortion is contrary to the Gospel is simply ludicrous. In fact, I would say that when we do not stand up for the voiceless or love our neighbor as ourselves, we are not truly preaching the Gospel. Bryan Kemper