Who Am I?

We live in turbulent and troubled times as it has been, and will be. But,
The Lord is on my side,
I will not fear.
What can man do to me?

Each Christian believer needs to know who he is. What is his true identity? Can he say with great assurance who he is?

......I am _____ “in Christ”
Ephesians 1
1. I am a saint "in Christ"
2. I am faithful "in Christ" Eph. 1:1
3. I am blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places "in Christ" Eph. 1:3
4. I am chosen in Him before the foundation of the world in order that I should be holy and without blame before Him in love Eph. 1:4
5. I have been predestined to adoption as a son by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace Eph. 1:5
5. I am made accepted in the Beloved.
7. In Him, I have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace
8. I know the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Himself,
9. …that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth -in Him.
10. In Him, I also have obtained an inheritance, being predestined according to the purpose of Him who works all things according to the counsel of His will.
11. In Him, I have believed and been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Eph. 1:13

Ephesians 2
12. I am made alive
13. I am raised up together with Him, and made to sit together with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,
14. In the ages to come God will show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward me in Christ Jesus.
15. I am His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that I should walk in them.
16. I have been brought near to God in Christ Jesus by the blood of Christ.
17. I am reconciled to God through the cross
18. I have access to the Father
19. I am a fellow citizen with the saints and members of the household of God,
20. I am part of the spiritual building, the Church, growing into a holy temple in the Lord,
21. I am being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.

Ephesians 3
22. I am, as a Gentile, a fellow heir, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel
23. I am a part of the eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord,
24. …in whom I have boldness and access with confidence through faith in Him.
25. I am learning to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height of the love of Christ
26. I am learning to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that I may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Totalitarianism or Free Market Capitalism?

Wed Nite 4/8/09 Study

TOTALITARIANISM OR FREE MARKET CAPITALISM? ...Douglas A. White

I. THE BIBLE AND PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
    Psalm 24:1 ..God sovereignly made everything...all belongs to Him
    Ezekiel 18:4 ...all souls are His, none belong to Satan
    Hebrews 9:27 ...all must die, then judgment...we are responsible
    1 Peter 4:4,5 ...all are responsible...see also Genesis 4
    Ephesians 2:10 ...good works are our personal responsibility

II. THE BIBLE AND PRIVATE PROPERTY
    Genesis 1:26-28 He gave us dominion over the earth...we are to subdue it
    Genesis 9:1-4 He gave all things to mankind
    Psalm 8 Sovereignty of God manifested in His gifts to man of all the earth
    Genesis 12:1-3, 7 ...Private property rights of Noah's descendents, a land specifically given to Abram
    Exodus 20:15,17 ...Do NOT steal or covert...private property rights
    Deuteronomy 11:24 ...this land is to be “yours”
    Joshua, Chapters 13-22 ...Private property given by God unto their descendents

III. THE BIBLE AND PRODUCTIVITY
    Genesis 1:26-28 ...be fruitful and fill the land
    Genesis 9:1-4 ...stewardships are those of men
    Exodus 20:9-11...Man is to labor...(6 days)
    Matthew 25:14-30 ...Parable of talents illustrate responsibility of individuals, not of collective or equality of shares
    John 15:1-17...We might call this the secret of bearing fruit...individuals, not group
    Colossians 1:10 ...We are responsible for what God has given us

IV. REASON WITHOUT REVELATION (IMAGINATION) CREATES DEADLY SYSTEMS OF HUMAN MANAGEMENT
    A. Evolutionary thought (not just from “evolutionists”)- conflict is natural even cathartic ~allowing the survival of the strongest and most resilient . According to the Bible, is conflict "natural" and if so why?
    B. Hegelian dialectic - conf1ict is natural and can be used in a controlled manner to move progressively to a new and better
world. Is this a biblical concept? What does the Bible say about this idea that a new and better world is coming due to the resolution of the final conflict of man to man? Are we in fact progressing to a new and better world? The answer according to the scriptures is a resounding NO! The bible says that each ONE must come to Christ alone, cannot save culture. Without revelation, men left to themselves proceed down the path to death.
    C. Totalitarian - the concentrating of all power in a central group with no allowable rivals or dissent ...See Genesis 11:1-4; Psa 2; Prov 11:21
       1. Fascism - the cult of union around celebrity, nationality and race 1
a. Focuses much affention on decline of a society or culture usually based upon some perceived defilement by a selected ethnic group
b. A leader arises that can articulate this caused defilement and its logical cure particularly to the
working class (even more so if it can be shown that the defiling people are also the oppressing people who are forcing the ethnically proper to have such struggles)
c. Exaltation of a leader and his ideals raising him to the status of savior, if not near divine
d. Seeks racial purity of the "true" select peoples
e. Seeks extermination or purging of the defiling people
f. Does not seek a particular economic system as long as the leadership is in FULL control of fruits and
methods of production
g. Exalts patriotism to the status ofworship of those in power and the ideals they profess...men become “warriors”.
h. Makes strong appeals to the nationalist pride of the select peoples of the 'fatherland'
i. Not fond of intellectuals or Christians but instead sees them as unpatriotic; often purges or neutralizes
them from the public marketplace of ideas
j. Does not like democracy, capitalism and private property, Marxism or the upper class
k. Seeks to have the government of the exalted leader replace God as the provider of the people
       2. Socialism - the cult of union around equalizing the inequities of productive versus non-productive; the “haves” versus the "have nots" and/or any other imagined or real perception of class struggle through a legislative overthrow of the governing ones who have allowed such inequities to exist
a. Focuses much attention on the inequities and oppression being suffered by a minority class from the powers that be, especially those with great economic power demonstrated by their greed and exploitation
b. A leader arises that can articulate this oppression and its logical cure, the governmental overthrow of the
oppressors, particularly to the working class who envy and resent the "advantaged" class by whom they perceive themselves to be exploited
c. Exaltation of a leader and his ideals raising him to the status of savior
d. Seeks class equality by building on the envy, resentment, fear and perceived injustice of the advantaged people and promising a more equal distribution of wealth to all
e. Seeks the removal of the power of the defiling people
f. Seeks an economic system that empowers the disadvantaged and oppressed with equality with the advantaged peoples: a redistribution of the wealth of the advantaged people. Takes state control of the means of production
g. Exalts the state to the status of worship
h. Makes strong appeals to the pride of the worker who is creating the equality of the state
i. Not fond of intellectuals or Christians but instead sees them as enemies of the state; often purges or neutralizes them from the public marketplace of ideas
j. Does not like democracy, capitalism and private property, fascism or the upper class
k. Seeks to have the government replace God as the provider of the people
l. Drives away the individual incentive to excel; is forced to make choices from only an economic viewpoint, "Will the cost of this (procedure, action etc) be worth the benefit derived?"
       3. Communism - a violent, less gradual form of socialism, the cult of union around equalizing the inequities of
productive versus non-productive; the “haves" versus the "have nots" and/or any other imagined or real perception of class struggle through a legislative overthrow of the governing ones who have allowed such inequities to exist
a. Focuses much attention on the inequities and oppression being suffered by a minority class from
the powers that be, especially those with great economic power demonstrated by their greed and exploitation and seeks to blame those who are or imagine they are oppressed
b. A leader arises that can articulate this oppression and its logical cure, the violent, if necessary, overthrow of the oppressors, particularly to the working class who envy and resent the "advantaged" class by whom they perceive themselves to be exploited. Builds his case on using manipulative language, exploiting the exploiters, appealing to envy, resentment and a sense of justice. Builds strong local unions ofworkers
c. Exaltation of a leader and his ideals raising him to the status ofsavior
d. Seeks class equality by building on the envy, resentment, fear and perceived injustice of the advantaged people through tearing down the advantaged ones
e. Seeks the removal of the power of the defiling people
f. Enforces an economic system that empowers the disadvantaged and oppressed with equality with the advantaged peoples: a redistribution of the wealth of the advantaged people. Gives all people equal control of the means of production
g. Exalts economic equality to the status of worship.
h. Makes strong appeals to the pride of production and equality of the working class
i. Not fond of intellectuals or Christians, but instead sees them as enemies of the state; often purges or
neutralizes them from the public marketplace of ideas
j. Does not like democracy, capitalism and private property, fascism or the upper class
k. Seeks to have the people replace God as the provider for themselves
1. Drives away the individual incentive to excel; is forced to make choices from only an economic equality viewpoint, "Is it fair to all of us?" ...the opposite of individual freedom.

Knowing the Will of God

AN OFFERING FOR APOLOGETICS CLASS

You cannot know the will of God without first knowing the nature of God:

I. THE NATURE OF GOD

A. A holy, pure God and is Himself the source and definition of purity and truth
B. A revealing, speaking God
C. An omniscient God who knows all things and all potentialities
D. A God with a will
E. An omnipotent God capable of completing His will
F. A sovereign God ruling the whole universe He created and all that is in it and therefore all things answer to Him and Him alone
G. A fruitful God
H. A God who speaks of a beginning and an end
I. A personal God who made man in His image
J. A God of love who loves His creation and man in particular
K. A just and righteous God whose will is His own standard of righteousness

II. GOD'S SOVEREIGN WILL

A. This will by His very nature must happen
B. This will is revealed usually in broad terms and occasionally with some specificity regarding some of its parts
C. Only occasionally is this will revealed to select individuals for a select purpose.
D. Most of us will only know this will in its broad terms.
    1. There is enough about it and its parts that cause us to search the Scriptures to know when and how this will is accomplished.
    2. There is also speculation and error that go along with our attempts to know His Sovereign will
    3. There is great danger in this speculation ofadding to or taking away from God's Word
    4. This speculative area by those who believe the have found the secret to knowing God's will has led to much confusion and even heartache
E. God's sovereign will is best known by us after it happens!
F. God's sovereign will is to be trusted as our confident knowledge that He is in con frol ofall things, including the current events of our lives.

III. AS A PART OF THAT SOVEREIGN WILL HE HAS ORDAINED THAT MAN WILL HAVE THE CAPACITY AND THE FREEDOM TO MAKE CHOICES.

A. Man is made in the image of God
    1. He has intellect and can therefore reason what he deems is a good choice
       a. He makes his choices based upon the desire he has and the information he is given or has chosen to work with.
       b. Based on these choices he reasons a plan to meet the ends of that choice
       c. He is limited in that he is not omniscient and there are variables that he does not know and over which he has no control
    2. He has volition and has the capacity to carry out that choice.
       a. Man is given, by the dominion clause, the capacity to reason a plan and gather the resources to conduct
that plan
       b. He has been given the strength to conduct that plan or to find a reasonable plan to enhance his capacity to carry it out.
       c. He is not omnipotent so he cannot do everything he wants to do. God by His own divine intervention
has limited man's capability to do everything he wishes.
    3. He is a moral creature and his choices will reflect his moral reasoning
       a. He was made by God to have his conscience, moral compass, informed by God's revelation
       b. Though still influenced by God, man's conscience has been tainted by sin in such a way as to have the flill capacity ofrejecting that influence and doing his own will.
       c. Man is held responsible for all his decisions not by his own morality but by the moral nature of God
B. None of those choices can alter His Sovereign will
C. God has chosen tofulfill His Sovereign will and still allow man to have a choice in the matter through His Sovereign influence on man's choices. Prov 16:9; Prov 20:24; Jer 10:23
    1. By limiting the choices a man may have.
    2. By altering the circumstances to influence the choice
    3. By direct divine intervening acts: the king with Sarai
    4. By indirect supernatural intervening acts: Job
    5. By withholding divine intervention: Romans 1

I Really Like This

Error Intolerant
Posted: By John MacArthur in Shepherds Fellowship Pulpit Magazine

As Christians we must understand that whatever opposes God’s Word or departs from it in any way is a danger to the very cause of truth. Passivity toward known error is not an option for the Christian. Staunch intolerance of error is built into the very fabric of Scripture. And tolerance of known error is anything but a virtue.

Jesus clearly and unashamedly affirmed the utter exclusivity of Christianity. He said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6). “Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Obviously, that sort of exclusivity is fundamentally incompatible with post-modern tolerance.

Truth and error cannot be combined to yield something beneficial. Truth and error are as incompatible as light and darkness. “What fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols?” (2 Corinthians 6:14-16).

We can’t tell the world, “This is truth, but whatever you want to believe is fine, too. It’s not fine. Scripture commands us to be intolerant of any idea that denies the truth.
Lest anyone misunderstand, I’m not defending dogmatism on any and every theological issue. Some things in Scripture are not perfectly clear. But the central teachings of Scripture (in particular, those things related to the way of salvation) are so simple and so clear that even a child can understand.

Those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed, for salvation, are so clearly propounded and opened in some place of scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them. (Westminster Confession, 1:7).

All the truth that is necessary for our salvation can be easily understood in a true way by anyone who applies common sense and due diligence in seeking to understand what the Bible teaches. And that truth — the core message of Scripture — is incompatible with every other system of belief. We ought to be dogmatic about it.

No wonder post-modernism, which prides itself on being tolerant of every competing world-view, is nonetheless hostile to biblical Christianity. Even the most determined post-modernist recognizes that biblical Christianity by its very nature is totally incompatible with a position of uncritical broad-mindedness. If we accept the fact that Scripture is the objective, authoritative truth of God, we are bound to see that every other view is not equally or potentially valid.
There is no need to seek middle ground through dialogue with proponents of anti-Christian world-views, as if the truth could be refined by the dialectical method. It is folly to think truth given by divine revelation needs any refining or updating. Nor should we imagine that we can meet opposing world-views on some philosophically neutral ground. The ground between us is not neutral. If we really believe the Word of God is true, we know that everything opposing it is error. And we are to yield no ground whatsoever to error.

Truth in Action

The penny gospel according to Douglas A. White: In God we trust...in the One "sent".

My father always said he liked smart boys, not smart alecks.

I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again…William Penn

Start by doing what’s necessary; then do what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible…Francis of Assisi

There is perfect job security in criticizing others…Douglas A. White

Evolutions say it took umpteen million or billion years to cut the Grand Canyon, but Canada’s famous Niagara Falls have eroded the soft shale and limestone under them and are now about seven miles back from their first measured location, eroding several feet a year!

You can say what you like about long dresses, but they cover a multitude of shins.

We are nothing but a bunch of dirty, rotten, low level scumbags of sinners…Al Osden

Fashion is a form of ugliness so intolerable that we have to alter it every six months to the detriment of the husband’s wallet.

Thinking is hard work, and thinking about the scriptures is the hardest work, which is probably the reason why so few engage in it.

Insanity is inherited. We get it from our grandchildren…Erma Bombeck

Children are a great comfort in your old age-and they help you reach it faster, too.

Cats are smarter than dogs, according to my daughter. You can’t get eight cats to pull a sled through snow.

Do you know what is better than a hug? Answer: two hugs, of course.

Fear the Lord, not men…Paul the Apostle

There are extremists in every doctrinal position, but moderatism is no virtue without conviction…Dr. Leon

My Lament: Caffeine is my shepherd, I shall not doze.
It maketh me to wake in green pastures.
It leadeth me beyond the sleeping masses.It restoreth my buzz.
It leadeth me in the paths of consciousness for its name's sake
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of addiction, I will fear no Equal (tm).
For thou art with me; thy cream and thy sugar they comfort me.
Thou preparest a carafe before me in the presence of Starbucks.
Thou anointest my day with pep; my mug runneth over.
Surely richness and taste shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of Folger forever. ...author unknown

My father also said stupid is as stupid does.

Most of our nation's great problems, including our economic problems, have as their root decaying moral values. Whether we have the stomach to own up to it or not, we have become an immoral people left with little more than the pretense of morality. ... Walter Williams ("But immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints; and there must be no filthiness and silly talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God"…Eph. 5:3-5)

There has always been a line ... which no president would cross, with respect to the distinction between the public and private sectors. Obama has now crossed that line. There is no limit to government's destruction of private activity or control over it." --radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh

There are books and articles and blogs and sermons and… …teaching us how to know the will of God. But you cannot know the will of God without first knowing the nature of God and His sovereignty…Douglas A. White

Ziggy warned us about the present government