For the preachers

For those who want to preach, here are some good advice from brother Bob.

This is taken from his blog at http://bobjenningsjournal.com/2011/03/10/simple-thoughts-on-preaching/

"Bob Jennings, a novice

1. BIBLE KNOWLEDGE: Be mighty in the scriptures (Acts 18.24). Strive to know what is in each chapter, especially the New Testament.
   

2. A MAIN POINT: It is all too easy to preach without making a main point. I was admonished, “What tree are you after? Don’t just chop off branches. Get the tree chopped down.”
   

3. CLARITY: It is a tremendous virtue to be able to speak clearly, that is, with clarity of thought, as it is written, That I may make it clear in the way I ought to speak (Col. 4.4). How can the hearer be edified by an uncertain sound? (1 Cor. 14.8). Wisdom in what to say and how to say it is so desirable. The Spirit of God accompanies wisdom, as it is written, They were unable to cope with the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking (Acts 6.10).
   

4. ILLUSTRATIONS: This indeed helps to clarify the meaning. They are flowers on the table. They are windows to the building. They are pictures for the memory to take back home. Look at the Lord’s example in using parables. Hear His challenge, How shall we picture the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? (Mark 4.30).
   

5. SIMPLICITY: Use the text as your outline as much as possible. Go right down the flow. It a great help to the hearer to be able to feel comfortable, to feel he is getting it. The hearer wants to enjoy each word of the text.
   

6. BREVITY: It is devilish to wear down the saints (Daniel 7.25). It takes a good deal of skill to be brief and concise. It takes holiness to be brief. To the degree you know self-denial, you will be able to be brief. A proud man enjoys hearing himself (Jude 16). The insecure must talk. Yet, God can be in long sermons, Judas and Silas, also being prophets themselves, encouraged and strengthened the brethren with a lengthy message (Acts 15.32).
   

7. TO THE HEART: Real communication is supreme. Look everyone in the eye (Proverbs 20.8, Mark 3.5, Acts 3.4). The saints don’t want a show, they want sincerity and substance, For a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears (Act 20.31). Be more concerned about getting something in (to their hearts), than getting something out (of your mouth). Notes? Too much paper can put out the fire.
   

8. BOLDNESS: If you stand and apologize and hesitate, stay seated. Anything less than confidence, boldness, and authority is unworthy of the ministry of the word of God (Acts 4.31, 2 Corinthians 3.12, Ephesians 6.19, 1 Thessalonians 2.2). But don’t fake it. Performance is for the actors. Rash statements are marks of the insecure.
   

9. DON’T SCOLD: That is what sadly got Moses in trouble (Numbers 20.10). Trust God to get the job done. Look at souls as precious, as friends. Stephen’s face before enemies was like that of an angel (Acts 6.15). Just seek to be a servant, a helper. Sure, there is a time for anger, but alas, anger is rarely pure (Mark 3.5, James 1.20). The joy of the Lord is New Covenant ministry. As the saying goes, “A dull tour guide betrays the majesty of the mountains.”
   

10. THE POWER OF GOD: It is so different to have the Spirit’s help and liberty – utterance (Luke 4.18, Acts 4.31, 1 Corinthians 2.4). Diligence is generally involved to be ready to speak – prayed up, read up, and filled up. And do what you can do to get out of yourself when speaking. Get self to zero. Get free. Stop, pray, quit, or something. It is all an adventure."

The Vision - Kingsley's sharing

A story about the King and His glory

Close your eyes and hear this story about my King and his glory.

And when you look outside in the morning and you see the sun, it radiates beautifully and that there is none that compares to it you would think – but you are wrong, there is one. He is the s-o-n son, and his name is Jesus. In the palm of his hand he holds all the land, in the palm of his hand he holds all the water, in the palm of his hand he holds the universe such that all the universe cries with one verse, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God almighty! There is none like you who can compare in glory.”

Let me tell you about the king and his glory - that in his hand, the palm of his hand he holds life. And at the same time, his father who also holds that same life and holds all life, held a knife and he looked to his son, just as Abraham did to his son Isaac with a knife in his hand, he was ready to take his life. And he did, this father he took his son’s life so that there would be no more strife between us and our king, us and our father, us and our brother Jesus Christ, us and the councilor of the Holy Spirit who was your seal of approval.

That Jesus Christ upon in the grace of the Holy Spirit and in the power of the Holy Spirit made his holy appeal before God for us that Jesus when he died for us he spread his arms as far as the east and the west, as far as the eye can see. And all that he showed us was that really all we need to do is believe. That from his nail pierced hands he bled blood that was precious, blood that belonged to the righteous lamb. And so I ask and I stood before the Lord and I was like, “God, what does this mean?”

Jesus replied, “Child have you not seen do you not hear, do you not understand that because of me -because of Jesus- because of the Father because of the Spirit”, Jesus said to me, “do you not understand that by my righteous hand  you stand? In that I will promise to let you enter this holy land.” It’s a beautiful mystery, this Gospel that we sing. And all the angels try they look at this one divine thing and they’re perplexed, they’re baffled. This is the mystery entrusted to you this is the mystery of the king and his glory, that he gave his life for us so that we can tell his story.

So now to him who sits on his throne, his saints resound with the heavenly tone, that Jesus Christ has ascended to his heavenly throne. So Christians stand, stand Christians if you are a Christian today stand. Rise to your feet and stand before the king of glory, rise to your feet.

The most terrifying truth of Scripture...

At the Faith in Focus event today, someone quoted Paul Washer from this video. Please have a listen, it is always a good reminder.

Proper soteriology and the Gospel

Proper understanding of salvation and our need for Christ is essential in this dark day and age. Satan works in ways that keeps us focused on our self, our own efforts for salvation, and on suppressing truths from God's word that are meant to wake us up and see the glory of Christ.

Being a Christian in North America is especially hard. It's like a frog being boiled to death. If you increase the temperature slowly it'll never jump out of the pot. This is what Satan does, through sneaky trends over long periods of time, he's pulling people away from Biblical truth. Just look at the postmodernism around you, everybody does whatever is right in their own eyes, there is no authority or obedience, and people wonder why life is so dark and painful, why people are so messed up. I hope that everyone in CCF will understand and know these basic truths, especially the new committee, so you can be firm in your faith, stand against the schemes and tricks of the princess and rulers of this day and age, and minster to the people effectively to the glory of God.

The new birth
In Ezekiel 11:14-21 and 36:24-27, God describes for us what happens when someone is saved. When Israel wandered in the desert, and finally settled in the promised land, most of the people utterly failed to keep God's commandments. Even after hundreds of years of patience and warning from God, the people went after other gods and lived in immorality no different than other nations. The Ezekiel passages describe the work of salvation as replacement of hearts, the old heart of stone is replaced with a heart of flesh, and God gives his Spirit to the people. Then they desire to obey God's law.

This can also be seen in the New Testament. Jesus tells Nicodemus in John 5 that those must be born again in the spirit to inherit the kingdom, and again he says in John 14 that those who love him obeys his commandments. John also writes in 1 John 5 that those who love God obeys his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome.

Here we can conclude several things:

• The unsaved person will not be able to keep God's commandments, neither does he/she desire to do so
• Salvation is the work of God by changing a person's heart and giving him/her his Spirit
• This is experienced by the person through new desires and delight in obeying God's commandments

Don't let people deceive you, believing in Jesus is not just knowing doctrine and theology, if you know all the doctrine yet don't want to obey God, you need to examine your faith.

The Gospel
The Gospel is not as simple as what most tracts say. The Gospel is about Christ, and one can study and learn of the riches and glory contained within for their whole life. For the sake of keeping things short, here's a short summary of the Gospel's main components:

• Christ died for our sin
• He was buried
• He rose again the third day and was seen by many witnesses
• His kingdom has come in part and will come in full

(The first three points are from 1 Cor 15 1-11, the last point is from the Gospel of Matthew.)
The whole point of preaching the Gospel is not for people to learn some knowledge about a person named Jesus, but to offer sinners an opportunity for repentance and faith(Acts 17:30, Romans 1:16-17, 1 Cor 15:1-2). Therefore, we must understand and be convicted of sin and it's consequences, and the preciousness of the free gift of life in Christ.

Sin

Many people would define sin as missing the mark. It's true that's what the word means, but it has become a cliche. Sin is our moral, spiritual inability to obey God's commandments, therefore breaking our relationship with God. We must not simply know this, but see this in our lives.
If we examined ourselves, we would have noticed this is true, and we have all sinned. Just read Exodus 20 and Matthew 5, and ask yourself if you have truly lived up to these standards all your life. People will often think they are basically good, maybe it's true by everyone's own standards, but when measured up to God's perfect standard, nobody is good, and the consequences are very dire. Everyone is destined for eternal punishment under God's wrath.(Isaiah 66:24)
Going back to the new birth, we can say that nobody can cleanse their own sin, for salvation belongs to the Lord. So how then can people be saved? Through a response to the Gospel.

Repentance and faith

Repentance is turning away from sin and our efforts in trying to save ourselves, and faith in this sense is being assured of Christ being the only possibility for salvation. This is not just some decision a person makes, but are the outward manifestation of God's work in convicting a person of sin, renewing their heart, and giving them the Holy Spirit.

Salvation

Salvation is not just a one time repentance, but one must grow and continue in repentance and faith to be saved, one must go to Jesus daily to be washed of sin(John 13:8, 1 John 2:1-2). There are people who make shipwreck and abandon their faith. As strange as it seems, even though it is God's work of salvation, we have to persevere. This can be seen all over Jesus' parables in Matthew warning against false assurance of faith, as well as many of the New Testament's urge to persevere and work out our salvation.(1 Cor 15:2, Philippians 2:12, Heb 4, 6:1-8, 10:11-18, 12:25-29), yet the Bible also tells us that we can have confidence knowing God has saved us, and will finish his work until the end(Romans 8:37-39, Philippians 1:6). How then do we reconcile these 2 truths?

• Those who are truly saved bear good fruit
• Are we becoming more loving, peaceful, joyful, faithful, kind, virtuous, gentle, and self controlled?
• Are we using our gifts to edify the church, building people up in Christ likeness?

As we examine ourselves and see these things are true in our lives, our assurance of God working in us grows, and we grow in these things more and more, this is a cycle leading to salvation, yet when we are asked, "who has done this work?" we say, "not to us, but to him, be all the glory, honour, and power, forever and ever, amen."

"Will take verbal abuse for change"

In packing away things and preparing things for graduation and moving on to the next chapter of life; I found this article in my journal that I wrote and this I want to share with you all.

July 25, 2010

The stanger sat there with a cardboard sign labelled, "Will take verbal abuse for change". Seated on Queen street downtown Toronto, I walked past him in my own quest for a Hot Dog after a wonderful service at Grace Toronto on 41 Britain... I saw him, but paid no attention until 5 steps past him the Holy Spirit spoke to.

"Read the sign he held" said my conscience... "Will take verbal abuse for change..." after grabbing a hot dog for him (I only had enough money for one) and giving whatever change was left from the bun and dog, we went back to the stand to get some condiments, meanwhile I got to ask him why he had the sign... He says, "it gives good money and it makes people laugh." I couldn't laugh. Right after he said that the ketchup sprayed all over his freshly washed white shirt. He cursed and swore; he had done laundry that day and it would be weeks he said until the next time he could wash.

That conversation got me thinking... So this is a glimpse of the brokenness in our world. Loss of hope, taking verbal abuse for spare change. All the while we know that God offers people words of sweet comfort and love.

I wish I sat longer with the guy to get to know him more to share the beauty and majesty and abundant wealth that is to gain Christ; for nothing else matters if we have Christ. I did get to tell him that Chirst loves him and that God wants him, but in the end, he might think that it was just another foreign form of "listening to something to get change". I pray not, I hope these were not empty words.

I'm done with empty Christianity talk; all talk but no walk... It's time for people to stop receiving verbal abuse for loonies and toonies. Rather, we should give them an ear full of the glorious Gospel message - in hopes that they might receive Jesus who exceeds any number following any $ sign.

I'm done. Are you done yet?

Our only need

Do you want to do a lot of things for God?
Do you talk a lot about what you have done for God when talking to people?
Do you criticize and look down on other people who do not do enough evangelism or do enough ministry?
Do you have trouble listening to what God has to say to you?
Are you easily angered when things don't go according to your plans?
Are you secretly trying to work for God so you can manipulate him into doing what you want?

Realize this, God is not served with human hands. Even stones and nature do a better job at glorifying God than us, because when God tells stones to stay, they do not move, when he tell trees to grow, they grow, when God tells planets to spin in a specific path, they do so, and when God tells the ocean "You can only come so far" they dare not take one step further.

But often times we neglect his will. We will be so set on doing things for him that the things we do might not even be pleasing to him in the first place.

Folks, all we need is Christ. Did Paul not say that he suffered the loss of all things for the sake of the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ? Yes he was a man who did a lot of ministry and sacrificed for God, but that's only as much as he saw the glory of Christ and his own weakness. His love was Christ, not doing a lot of stuff.

We are not great people. In fact, even the sins in our prayers and best thoughts are worthy to send us to hell. But thanks be to God, who sent Christ as a sacrifice for our sins, who satisfied God's anger towards us and reconciled us to God. Now we can call God father, if you are indeed in Christ.

So let go of the mentality and tendency to trust in our own efforts, and find rest in Christ, carry this burden of trying to please God by your flesh no more. Ask God to reveal to you the glory of Christ, and you will be glorifying him, because from glory to glory you will be transformed into Christ likeness.

Bible study and theology is a moral spiritual matter, not intellectual.

Please take some time to watch this video, where Tim Conway preaches on Hebrews 5.

Study theology to love

Simply put, theology is the science of God, it requires knowledge and rational thought. and Christians need to study theology. We need to grow in our knowledge of our Lord. The Bible commands it. 2 Peter 1:3-9 puts knowledge as an essential element in a pipeline that leads to love, and the life God desires for us is a life marked by love.

But we do need to keep these 2 things in mind:

• Our motivation of theological studies needs to be to love God and to love people
• We need to be Biblical

People are put off by theology because many theologically buff Christians are jerks. Using knowledge to bash others, looking down on people who have different convictions, seeking and desiring to argue and prove people wrong, and always wanting to fit everything into a system and having all their ducks line up in a row. Sometimes we rely so much on our head we become cold and cruel. It's ridiculous.

But on the other hand, the lack of knowledge destroys people (Hosea 4:6). Not knowing the attributes of God can be a very dangerous thing. For example, when church attenders are not taught the attributes of God because it is assumed that everyone already knows who He is, God will become something to be used to fulfill people's own ambition. People will put up a religious act or be led into behavior modification thinking if they are good enough then God will need to repay their debt. When suffering and misfortune come into their lives, they just walk away from the church.

So go and study theology. Read your Bible diligently. Don't let theologically buff jerks turn you off, but beware, lest knowledge becomes your god. Don't neglect your personal time with God, seek Him daily, commune with Him, see and taste the goodness of God that you have learned and studied. Let Him become more and more the lover of your being.

HCCF Grad Dinner 2012!

Hey CCF!

Grad dinner is coming up!
Let's get dressed up, come together for a nice meal, and celebrate what God has done in the Grads & in CCF.

Check your emails for more details regarding registration :)

A blast from the past... Grad Dinner circa 2011:

Veritas Forum @ Mac

Website: http://www.veritas.org/mcmaster

Ways to get involved:
1. Facebook
a) Change your profile picture to the Veritas poster (above)
b) Join the facebook event
c) Invite your friends!

2. Prayer
Starting Monday, January 9, through the week leading up to Veritas and the week of Veritas, there will be two prayer slots at the Div College Chapel from 10:30 to 11:30 or from 11:30 to 12:30. Pick a time slot, and show up to pray - every day except for Wednesday.

3. Attend Veritas events (bring a friend with you!)
MON (Jan/16): "The Gospel of Luke" performance 7:30pm @ 1280. Tickets are $5 each, sold through CCF or at Compass.
TUE (Jan/17): "4 Views on freedom: What is Freedom? How does one become free?" panel discussion on Jan/17 7:30pm @ ITB 137.
THU (Jan/19): "The reality of human slavery today" presentation on Jan/19 7:30pm @ MDCL 1105.
FRI (Jan/20): "Freedom cafe" coffeehouse on Jan/20 8pm @ CIBC Hall.
(All week): "Freedom art exhibit" @ MUSC atrium

In fear and trembling we are saved

Here are two thought provoking questions:
Is it possible for those who think they are not saved to be saved?
Is it possible for those who think they are saved to not be saved?

God's word is complete regarding our faith.
In one sense, salvation by grace through faith alone is a great truth, but on the other hand, doing good works is a must in a Christian's life. If we have no works and still live as unrighteous and sinful as before, we are deceiving ourselves and have no part in the kingdom.

Interestingly, the Apostle Paul wrote as much, if not more about how a Christian ought to live and act in this life as being saved by faith alone. (you can see this if you read his letters to the Corinthians, Galatians chapter 5, Ephesians 5, Romans, even Jesus says that those who love him obeys his commandments, those who do not bear fruit will be cut off and burned, those who are wicked will be thrown into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth etc...)

I do not write this to scare people or make them feel guilty, but we are called to be sober minded, Brothers and sisters, do not be deceived by the teachings of this world to conform to it's patterns. Do not go after things like status in school and in work, seeking honour from men, money, pleasure, sex, competition, laziness, and youthful passions for fun and games, but pursue Christ and seek to know him, seek to become holy and virtuous people who live with honor, truth, love, kindness, gentleness, and patience(This is a lifelong process of sorrow, hardship, and much struggling with flesh and sin). For Christ is the one whom we need to believe, not theology or ideas about him. These things are dead, and there is so much more to learn in Christ than justification through faith alone, because Christ is alive and is our life.

Constantly check to see if you are still in the faith, working out our salvation with fear and trembling for it is God who works and wills within us. As Paul Washer puts it, this life is like a mine field, we cannot make it out alive unless we listen to God and obey him.

New Year's Resolutions?

If you're anything like me, you've practically given up on New Year's resolutions. You know... those goals that you absolutely convince yourself are going to happen this year: get fit, study harder, share the Gospel with that one person... And while, by God's grace, many of these things do become a reality, chances are, they don't and they just end up on next year's list.

But God put something on my heart this year and I hope it encourages all of you as well: it's ok if we fail, but we shouldn't let these failures cling on to our consciences. Why? Because Christ died to make us righteous in our Heavenly Father's eyes. Our salvation does not depend on our own efforts in improving ourselves, and praise God for that! I echo the words of Paul to the Philippian church when he said:

"Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thin I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:12-14.

Failed to get jacked this past year? It's ok, Christ died for that! Still struggling with getting the marks you wanted? Christ died for that! Didn't get a chance to talk to your friend / family member about God? Christ definitely died for that! Now don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting you don't set goals at all. Set Christ-centered goals and rely on God's strength to get them accomplished. Pursue them, write them down and stick them somewhere visible, don't let yourself give up on them. I'll leave you with John Piper's perspective on New Year's resolutions:

"Renew the New Year’s covenant or make a new one. Write it down. Paste it on your bathroom mirror. Set a limit to it. And be sure to add this contingency clause: “If I fail, I will not mope around in despair. I will encourage my heart in God’s mercy, repent and start up again.” Future life is too precious. The possibilities of joyful service are too great to let yourself be paralyzed by the past."

Happy New Year everyone!! May God bless all of you abundantly in 2012!

With much love,

Your committee