On October 31, 1517 Martin Luther nailed ninety-five theses to the Wittenburg Castle Church door to engage discussion of the Roman Catholic doctrine and practice of selling indulgences. Historians point to that nail as the spark that ignited the protestant reformation. Today many churches within the reformed tradition celebrate “Reformation Sunday” on the last Sunday of October.
Obviously, much more could be said. But the evidence which has been presented demonstrates that Southern Baptists come from Reformation stock. For all of our important distinctives which separate us from the leading Protestant Reformers, Baptists owe a debt of gratitude to God for those faithful leaders of the sixteenth century. With all of their shortcomings, they were nevertheless used of God to return to the Scripture alone for their authority. By doing so they rediscovered the blessed gospel of God–that gospel that reveals salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone and brings glory to God alone. To this, surely, every Southern Baptist can say, “Amen!”
Tonight our church will gather for an informal evening and watch God’s Outlaw - The Story of William Tyndale. The English reformer translated and published the first English Bible under great persecution. We will discuss his contribution and the doctrine of sola scriptura. I’m making a big pot of gumbo and folks are bringing potato
Man is the special creation of God, made in His own image. He created them male and female as the crowning work of His creation. The gift of gender is thus part of the goodness of God’s creation. In the beginning man was innocent of sin and was endowed by his Creator with freedom of choice. By his free choice man sinned against God and brought sin into the human race. Through the temptation of Satan man transgressed the command of God, and fell from his original innocence whereby his posterity inherit a nature and an environment inclined toward sin. Therefore, as soon as they are capable of moral action, they become transgressors and are under condemnation. Only the grace of God can bring man into His holy fellowship and enable man to fulfill the creative purpose of God. The sacredness of human personality is evident in that God created man in His own image, and in that Christ died for man; therefore, every person of every race possesses full dignity and is worthy of respect and Christian love.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, fully divine. He inspired holy men of old to write the Scriptures. Through illumination He enables men to understand truth. He exalts Christ. He convicts men of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. He calls men to the Saviour, and effects regeneration. At the moment of regeneration He baptizes every believer into the Body of Christ. He cultivates Christian character, comforts believers, and bestows the spiritual gifts by which they serve God through His church. He seals the believer unto the day of final redemption. His presence in the Christian is the guarantee that God will bring the believer into the fullness of the stature of Christ. He enlightens and empowers the believer and the church in worship, evangelism, and service.
Mark Driscoll, of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, just began his sermon series in Philipians entitled “A Rebel’s Guide to Joy.” In this short clip from his intro sermon, Driscoll contrasts Joel Osteen’s health wealth and prosperity message with the life of Jesus. Driscoll explains that Osteen teaches that “joy can be found in the same place that culture tells us. Get rich. Get healthy. Be happy. That’s the equation.” Driscoll counters, but when we say this we say Christianity has nothing different or more than what the world promises. Driscoll shows an Osteen clip and then responds, “just so ya’ know - that’s not right.”
Christ is the eternal Son of God. In His incarnation as Jesus Christ He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary. Jesus perfectly revealed and did the will of God, taking upon Himself human nature with its demands and necessities and identifying Himself completely with mankind yet without sin. He honored the divine law by His personal obedience, and in His substitutionary death on the cross He made provision for the redemption of men from sin. He was raised from the dead with a glorified body and appeared to His disciples as the person who was with them before His crucifixion. He ascended into heaven and is now exalted at the right hand of God where He is the One Mediator, fully God, fully man, in whose Person is effected the reconciliation between God and man. He will return in power and glory to judge the world and to consummate His redemptive mission. He now dwells in all believers as the living and ever present Lord.
God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.
I really need to pull together some resources highlighting the importance of maintaining gender specific language when speaking of God the Father.
I like the Heidelberg Catechism definition of “providence:”
Question 27. What dost thou mean by the providence of God
Answer: The almighty and everywhere present power of God; whereby, as it were by his hand, he upholds and governs heaven, earth, and all creatures; so that herbs and grass, rain and drought, fruitful and barren years, meat and drink, health and sickness, riches and poverty, yea, and all things come, not by chance, but by his fatherly hand.
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