False Christian teachings, trends….
This issue of Mike Gendron’s Newsletter covers the following topics and more: The Falsification of Spiritual Blessings; Scripture Exposes Rome’s Deceptive Teaching; The Timing and Purpose of Water Baptism; Water Baptism Cannot Cause Spiritual Rebirth; Only God and His Word Can Cause Spiritual Life; Do Not Be Deceived About “The Chosen;” Letters to Equip and Encourage the Saints. [Gendron cites Roman Catholic practices and contrasts them with biblical truth and doctrine.]
I recently received a question from a reader who was confused about how to discern biblical from un-biblical preaching / preachers. This post aims at helping such readers. Seasoned Christians who believe in the doctrines that come from the Protestant Reformation, know that Dr. Voddie Baucham is a great preacher. Nate Sala, the creator of this video looks carefully at Baucham’s sermon to show just why that is so. Listeners will gain in two ways from hearing the video of this post: they will hear a biblically sound sermon and get some insight into Baucham’s purposes (and the purposes of biblical preachers); furthermore, they will get a 3-point tool by which they can measure preaching they hear, at their church and elsewhere.
The purpose of this post is to use the writings of John Calvin, who thoroughly understood scripture, to show why God gave the law through Moses. The goal in that is to show Christians that it is impossible to get into heaven by obeying the law. The law, as in Romans 3, was merely given to show us that we are helpless to obey it. We must rest in the righteousness that Christ earned by obeying the law during His earthly ministry. The book of Galatians and the initial 5+ chapters of Romans say just that. So, every Christian MUST learn how to submit to the Holy Spirit and quit working to earn merit before God….
C H Spurgeon’s three sermon points were: the outward appearance of our trials; blessed fruitfulness of trials; and those exercised by trials. It is a 45-minute sermon that mentioned points I had never heard on this topic. The section about being exercised is very beneficial to know if you are in the midst of trials. All Christians will eventually be there. There are sermon highlights, and several term definitions.
The fruit of the Spirit cannot be artificially produced. These qualities must be developed in us by God’s grace. Today, Sinclair Ferguson considers the Lord’s purpose of growing His people in a wonderfully balanced way to make us increasingly like Christ. [Highlight points are provided after video.]
The purpose of this post is to explain what biblical faith is and is not. The word ‘faith’ is frequently misunderstood, even by believers. Understanding faith will be very helpful for the next post which is about Romans 12:1.
This brief article from Got Questions Ministries gives a thorough answer to what it means to ‘trust in Jesus.’ I am certain that if you are answering that question with your own reason, that you have answered in an incomplete way. Furthermore, most ideas about Christianity that are floating around in the social sphere are very wrong. Just read through the Bible and you will begin to see that. Mainstream, seeker friendly churches also err greatly. So, please spend 5 minutes of your time and get the correct answer.
The 12-minute excerpt in this post answers the following questions: What is it to partake of the Lord’s Supper in an unworthy manner? What is one to discover via self-examination prior to taking the Lord’s Supper?
Are you truly displeased with yourself because of your sins? What is it to rest upon Christ?
This post contains a 3 minute, 30 second video that explains Romans 12:1 and 2. All born-again believers need to learn and do the things specified in these two verses. It also indicates how that is accomplished in a believer’s life. For those who might want more, a recent post is added; that post explains the mindset of surrender
This post contains an 8-minute excerpt from Dr James Boice’s 35-minute sermon. The excerpt speaks to how believers must deal with the world if they would follow Christ. In that portion, Dr. Boice spoke of how Alexander Solzhenitsyn wrote of facing such trials when he was placed in the Soviet prison system. Boice’s quote came from Solzhenitsyn’s work, The Gulag Archipelago; he framed it as the correct perspective of a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. The quote actually explains Jesus’ words: deny yourself, pick up your cross and follow Me. [Highlight points are below video for those who would rather read]