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10:04:23 pm on January 10, 2009 |
So yeah it has been a while since any of us have posted. Forgive us for that, we have been very busy with things in our lives.
More than ever I have started to realize that this reformation thing is going to take time. Really it is going to take time in two different senses, the first being, a reformation is not going to happen in six months to a year. Secondly a reformation is going to take a lot of hours of work.
At first I thought, okay we as a group of guys are going to meet in a garage, study the Bible, talk some theology, hold each other accountable and then go tell people about it and that is it. After that change should happen and we will have a reformation on our hands and it will be great. The reality, as I have come to find out, is that this reformation of Christianity that we want so bad is going to take a long time. It easily could be another 5-10 years before we start to see any fruit, any change, because what we are doing. Who knows how long it might be before we see the full out change that we all long for? So we are in this thing for the long haul, we are willing to be long suffering for this reformation. We want to see Grand Rapids be orthodox again and not this garbage of beliefs that it is now.
The second aspect is not totally independent of the first, yet it is slightly different. Here is the thing, there is going to have to be a lot of hours put forth in reformation. It is going to take a lot of time in prayer, reading the Bible, fasting, proclaiming the message of Jesus to those around us, getting other people involved in leading this change. Here is the thing we easily could put 10,000 hours of our time, each of us could put in that much time before this even starts to take hold. Reformations take much time and dedication. It would be a shame if we all put in another 8,000 hours, only to be short 2,000 hours from seeing change.
So while this may seem like a daunting task, we know that we don’t do this for ourselves, rather we do this for the glory of Jesus. That makes it possible for a group of 5 guys, to do something as crazy as meet in a garage that is not heated, even during the winter months in Michigan, and think that they can cause a reformation back to Jesus and what the Bible says about Him happen.
-M. Van Drie
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05:40:08 pm on May 7, 2008 |
Sola scriptura (“by Scripture alone”)
Sola scriptura is the teaching that the Bible is the only inspired and authoritative word of God, is the only source for Christian doctrine, and is accessible to all — that is, it is perspicuous and self-interpreting.
May I suggest that this idea has been and continues to be under attack in the church. The emergent church has basically determined that they can move beyond the Bible. That what the Bible says is not true anymore to them, they have evolved beyond Scripture. They put culture above Scripture.
The mystics/Pentecostals/charismatics tend to believe that personal experience trumps the Bible. Their final authority is experience.
Others have said that the logic trumps the Bible in knowing Jesus. You can see threads of this in the fundamental church.
May I suggest that these are all false. Scripture alone is our final authority. If that which we believe disagrees with Scripture then that which we believe is false. This is a hard place to come to. Sometimes life would be easier if we could move beyond Scripture. However Scripture is to be our highest authority. If not then why believe anything, we might as go be as the world. The Word of God must be held to the place of highest authority.
Now this does not mean that nothing else has authority. We can still find authority in Science, in Psychology, Engineering, Medicine, and many others. However when they disagree with Scripture then we are to disagree those points of that field of study. We must test everything by Scripture.
So I hope that we repent of our pride that we can find a higher authority than God’s Word. And may Scripture alone be our highest authority.
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01:56:28 pm on April 20, 2008 |
I do not come into this pulpit hoping that perhaps somebody will of his own free will return to Christ. My hope lies in another quarter. I hope that my Master will lay hold of some of them and say, “You are mine, and you shall be mine. I claim you for myself.” My hope arises from the freeness of grace, and not from the freedom of the will. -Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Do we think like this?
Is it true?
Does the Bible support this?
-M. VanDrie
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05:22:09 am on April 16, 2008 |
“If sinners will be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our bodies. And if they will perish, let them perish with our arms around their knees, imploring them to stay. If hell must be filled, at least let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go there unwarned and unprayed for.”
- C.H. Spurgeon.
This is a great quote. What does this mean to us? Are we living with this passion?
-M. VanDrie
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12:59:25 am on April 15, 2008 |
Soli Deo gloria (“glory to God alone”)
Soli Deo gloria is the teaching that all glory is to be due to God alone, since salvation is accomplished solely through his will and action — not only the gift of the all-sufficient atonement of Jesus on the cross but also the gift of faith in that atonement, created in the heart of the believer by the Holy Spirit.1
The lives we live as Christians are to be for the glory of God alone. We are to live in such a way that we worship Jesus through the way we live. There are so many aspects that I could hit on that I could go on for days but I will stick to the basics.
You see glory is not due to us. In this society and even in our church’s we believe that we deserve the glory. We think that we should be the center of it all. I am guilty of this, most of my day is spent worshiping myself, trying to make situations benefit myself to get others to think highly of myself. In reality I should be laying down my life and living in such a way that the glory is given to God alone. Also we are not to give the glory to others. You might be thinking “I don’t give the glory to others.” I would beg to differ we give the glory to athletes, to singers, movie stars, to pastors, to friends, to bosses, to game developers, to models and there is a long list of other things. My point is that we give the glory to other things, in reality created things.
They are not God, but we treat them like they are. We do not give the glory to Jesus and give it to something that he created. Now there is even a benefit of sorts for us. See we were created to give glory and enjoy things, in other words to seek pleasure. The catch is that the only that we will only be satisfied when we give the glory to Jesus alone. We were made to created God alone. So may our lives be a living sacrifice to Jesus alone. May we live lives of humble worship to God and may we find that we find true pleasure in worshiping Jesus with our lives, through our beliefs and our actions.
The other part of it is that we are to be grateful that God alone and in that give Him the glory. We deserve the results of our sin, yet Jesus in his infinite wisdom, love and grace decided to give us life, to allow us to be in right relationship with him. Who else deserves the glory for that? Us, the church, our pastor. No, God alone does. So may we never forget what Jesus did on the cross, what the Holy Spirit did, does and will continue to do in our lives. To God alone be the glory.
