Matt Chandler on 'Preaching the Gospel to the De-Churched'

Preaching the Gospel to the De-Churched by Matt Chandler from Vintage21 Church on Vimeo.

Questions and Answers

Today we had a quick Q & A session. Here are the 5 questions:

1. Why do Mormons believe good works are necessary for salvation? Ephesians 2:9 says otherwise.

2. We are so often around others who constantly speak of sin...family,friends, co-workers, & in public. We tend to just laugh these commentsoff and simply walk away even though we know it isn't right. What is thebest way to boldy confront others?

3. Do you believe that those who have passed away can communicate with ushere through our dreams? Or do you believe they don't care anymore or remember?

4. We all know that dinosaurs existed. Where do they fit in with theBible?

5. Do you believe in pre-tribulation rapture? Do you believe we areliving in the end times and any of us will be here for this?

What is Communion?

Given for you!

Podcasts

Victoria Community Church is now on I-Tunes. You can go there and search for the words, 'Joyous Exchange.' Or you can just follow this link.

Sermon Video

A while back I took a class on preaching from the Seminary. Part of the requirement of that class was that I video record a sermon. We did and, well, Vimeo let me upload it. It's the same video that's currently on our Church's website; it's over a year old by now. The hope is someday to video record all sermons (with better sound and picture quality) for use on the website and this blog. Here's what we got so far:

Luke 5:12-39 from Erick Sorensen on Vimeo.

Thank You Sacred Sandwich

To make their worship services more interesting, Hilldale Presbyterian Church added a big screen to display hymn lyrics, Powerpoint presentations, and the occasional showing of The Princess Bride when the sermon is too boring.

Father's Day Sermon

Godly Father's unite!

Free Book for Dads!

Mark Driscoll has put together a little book for Fathers called "Pastor Dad." You can download it here for free. A good reminder for Father's Day.

LB Seminary: Mission

Lutheran Brethren Seminary: Mission from Micah Nordtvedt on Vimeo.

LB Seminary: Calling and Support

Lutheran Brethren Seminary: Calling and Support from Micah Nordtvedt on Vimeo.

Faith and Doubt

Another thought provoking article from Rev. Bill Cwirla on Faith and Doubt. Here's the last paragraph:

I guess sometimes you need to lose your religion in order to find Christ, or better, to come to the recognition that He has already found you. It's kind of like admitting you don't know anything before you can learn something. The nice thing is that the Father is always waiting to welcome his prodigal children with open arms and a party.

"Lord, I believe. Help Thou my unbelief."

Read the whole thing; it's worth your time.

Painful

The heading at "Between Two Worlds" is "In case you need a good visual reminder of Proverbs 16:18" (Pride goes before destruction,and a haughty spirit before a fall.)

My Seminary: Law and Gospel

Lutheran Brethren Seminary: Law and Gospel from Micah Nordtvedt on Vimeo.

My Seminary!

The LB Seminary has just released some great little promos describing what the place is all about. They were put together by Micah Nordtvedt (The Glimpse Project). Over the next few days, we will post the rest of the videos (or if you want, you can go to Vimeo and check out the rest on your own.) Here's the first of 4:

Lutheran Brethren Seminary: The Word from Micah Nordtvedt on Vimeo.

THE NEW SHAPE OF WORLD CHRISTIANITY

Mark Noll, a brilliant Evangelical writer has recently written a book about the changing face of Christianity around the globe. Check out these fascinating stats from his book compiled at "Between Two Worlds:"

This past Sunday it is possible that more Christian believers attended church in China than in all of so-called "Christian Europe." Yet in 1970 there were no legally functioning churches in all of China; only in 1971 did the communist regime allow for one Protestant and one Roman Catholic Church to hold public worship services, and this was mostly a concession to visiting Europeans and African students from Tanzania and Zambia.

This past Sunday more Anglicans attended church in each of Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda than did Anglicans in Britain and Canada and Episcopalians in the United States combined--and the number of Anglicans in church in Nigeria was several times the umber in those other African countries.

This past Sunday more Presbyterians were at church in Ghana than in Scotland, and more were in congregations of the Uniting Presbyterian Church of Southern Africa than in the United States.

This past Sunday the churches with the largest attendance in England and France had mostly black congregations. About half of the churchgoers in London were African or African-Caribbean. Today, the largest Christian congregation in Europe is in Kiev, and it is pastored by a Nigerian of Pentecostal background.

This past week in Great Britain, at least fifteen thousand Christian foreign missionaries were hard at work evangelizing the locals. most of these missionaries are from Africa and Asia. [pp. 20-21]

Murder is Wrong

Over the last few days I have heard various Christians (commentators and others) try and make the case that the killing of George Tiller (the late term abortionist who performed thousands of partial birth abortions) was justified. The case that has been laid out goes something like this: If you could save people in World War II by killing some Nazis would you? Wouldn't it be justified to take out Hitler? Tiller was like Hitler in that he butchered thousands of innocent babies and therefore in order to save these little ones, killing him was justified.

In response to this dilemma I refer you to 3 places: 1. Greg Koukl at Stand to Reason who gives the practical reasons why it is foolish strategically for the Pro-life movement to stand behind murders like this. 2. I refer you to the biblical case against the murder at Dr. Veith's site this morning. 3. Please read Jesus' instruction on how Christians are to live in this world found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7).

I naturally feel the same way about Dr. Tiller as any other pro-life person feels: He was a killer and needed to be brought to justice for his heinous crimes against these children. However, we are not the ones given that authority to bring him to justice. God has placed that in the hands of those who govern. Yes, the government made huge mistakes in not convicting this man, but again you are not given authority to take justice into your own hands. I know the government is incredibly flawed. Vote to change it; protest if you will; get involved the Democratic way by persuading others of your positions. And most of all, stop fretting and PRAY!

LAW AND GOSPEL

Rev. Bill Cwirla on his blog has a great post about the distinction between law and gospel. It deals really with how we should hear, read and preach the Bible in all it's fullness Here's an excerpt:

Practically speaking, what does this mean for us, whether as pastor preparing a
sermon or as Christian reading the Bible?

It means we do not sort passages of Scripture into a Law or Gospel bucket, like a fisherman sorting fish. We do not, as is the way of all “pietism,” delay the Gospel until we are sure the Law has done its job, nor do we presume that the Law has done its work and skip straight to the Gospel. We do not preach conditional “If
Law then Gospel” (“If you...then God will forgive you.”) or “Law but Gospel”
(“You are a sinner but Jesus died for you….”). We proclaim Law and Gospel (“you are a sinner and Jesus died for you”). We allow the paradoxical inner tension of the Word to remain unrelieved and unresolved, as it must be, for the Word to accomplish its killing and making alive work in us.

Read the rest at the link above.