Gospel Living

We are losing the local church, and you need to listen to this sermon. Voddie Baucham preached in the eleventh session of the 2017 G3 Conference. His topic was, "The Need for Reformation in Evangelical Ecclesiology." NOTE: All content of the G3 Conference is protected under copyright law. You can share content, but we ask that you place a link back to the G3Conference.com website or YouTube.com channel when you share.

We had the opportunity to hear another preacher last Sunday, which means that I don't have a sermon to post today.  In lieu of that, here is another message from the G3 Conference. Paul Washer preached in the sixth session of the 2017 G3 Conference.  His topic was, "The Sufficiency of Scripture: God's Church God's Way." NOTE:  All content of the G3 Conference is protected under copyright law.  You can share content, but we ask that you place a link back to the G3Conference.com website or YouTube.com channel when you share.

As Baptist Press reported earlier this year, "[C] hurches that host wedding ceremonies or other events for traditional couples should examine their bylaws and shield themselves from the impact of possible litigation, says an attorney who specializes in religious liberty issues ." This is on my mind as our church plant begins the process of drafting our constitution and bylaws, but it should also be on yours. BP continues: A number of situations could place churches in legal trouble, such as congregations who would:  -- allow a traditional couple but not a same-sex couple to use their facility for a wedding ceremony.  -- allow a traditional couple but not a same-sex couple to take part in a marriage class or retreat.  -- terminate an employee involved in a same-sex wedding.  Bylaw language defining marriage in the biblical sense doesn't mean a church won't face a suit or a complaint, but it does mean the church would be in a much better situation legally, ...

In the clip below, Pastor Jim Standridge temper grows as he begins calling out the sins and issues he sees around him.  According to the DailyMail report , Dr Standridge claimed God had told him to rebuke Mr Underwood for missing several weeks of church, and added his words were 'tough love'. 'The Lord had showed me that [Mr Underwood's fiancée] was really getting in a bad thing with him,' he said. 'God charged me to go after those things. And I did.' He added that he called Mr Underwood a few days later, and left a message explaining that it was God's work. However, Mr Underwood said: 'The Bible says if you have a problem with your brother, go to him in private first. You just don't talk to people that way, especially in public.' Although members of the congregation were embarrassed by the video, Dr Standridge stands by his comments. 'I'm a man of order, and we owe no one an answer for that. What concern is it of m...

A few weeks ago a person at church asked how we as Christians should treat the Law. One extreme is to ignore it. The other is to try to put Christians under it. The third option is to see it in light of the New Covenant. Consider this: we learn about the God we serve through the Law. For instance, nearly half (48%) of occurrences of the Hebrew word for holy, qodesh , occurs in the first five books of the Bible —the Law. Since the primary revealed attribute (not to be confused with saying that He has "greater" or "lesser" attributes) is His holiness, it's instructive that the concentration of OT teaching on holiness comes in the Law . Further, the command in Leviticus to " be holy " comes on the basis that God is holy (19:2; 20:7). The command is even repeated for NT believers in 1 Peter 1:16. If holiness is revealed in the Law, then we can discover invaluable truths about holy living in the Law. The problem is that we are not under the Law (for i...

Based on the message from  1 Corinthians 5–7 that  I was asked to deliver yesterday at the Pasadena City College Koinonia Bible Club. Introduction I was given the surprising task of covering four chapters from 1 Corinthians in about thirty-five minutes time. There are so many rich truths to camp around and mine in these chapters, but I want to see a larger theme present that ties the text together. There are two things I want to bring out of the text today, both of which are probably obvious from my title. One of them is sex, and the other is the Gospel. More to the point, I want to look at what these chapters have to say about sex and other periphery issues in light of the Gospel. So, why the Gospel? Though the word “Gospel” does not occur within these chapters, I want to promote is a view of the Bible that says life is to be lived in light of the Gospel. By contrast, I could stand here and give you a list of “do’s and don’ts” about sex. However, we should vie...