Tag: sermon

The Gospel or Glenn Beck?

~ Bob Hayton ~ 6 Comments

There may be a lot of good that conservative politics can offer America. Unfortunately for the Church, it can muddy the waters and make the Gospel message less clear.

I came across a fantastic small post written by author Nancy Guthrie over at The Gospel Coalition Blog. I wanted to share some of it here for your benefit. She writes it in the form of an open letter to her pastors.

…what prompts me to write to you. What prompts me to write is a statement Beck made on August 30 in an appearance on Bill O’Reilly’s show, when he cheerfully celebrated that “240 pastors, priests, rabbis, and imams on stage all locked arms saying the principles of America need to be taught from the pulpit.”

As I’ve continued to think about this statement, I’m moved to write today and say “thank you” for not being one of them. Thank you for your faithfulness in preaching Christ from the pulpit, not “the principles of America.” Thank you for leaving that to others and reserving the sacred desk at our church for preaching, in the last few weeks, about the once-for-all sufficient sacrifice of Christ, about the privilege we have to approach God in prayer as Father, about Christ as the Wisdom of God, about Christ as the most valuable Treasure in the universe, worth trading everything to have.

I love my country and certainly I have concerns about where it is headed. But I also know that “this world in its present form is passing away” (1 Cor. 7:31). I know””as you quote it week-by-week””that “all men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever” (1 Pet. 1:24-25; cf. Is. 40:6-8).

So thank you for continuing to preach the word of the Lord and present the beauty of Christ, and for not being so short-sighted to preach the “principles of America.” You keep calling me to love Christ more than my country, more than anything, and this is the word I need most to hear.

I encourage you to read the whole thing over at TGC and to check out Nancy’s bio. What do you think of her main premise?

Facing Temptation — Hebrews 12

~ Bob Hayton ~ 4 Comments

Here are some notes from a lesson I shared with some teens and young adults at my church this Sunday.

I. The Cycle of Temptation (Prov. 24:16)

  • Weak Flesh + Wicked World + Satan’s Work = Continual Temptation
  • We try to resist ~ we fail and fall into sin ~ we get up & resolve to do better ~ but we fail again….
  • This can lead us to lose heart, to give up and give ourselves to sin, or to be discouraged and even lose our faith

II. Resources for Temptation

  • Memorizing and learning God’s Word — Ps. 119:9,11
  • Watchfulness and Prayer — Matt. 26:41
  • Faith — 1 John 5:4, 1 Pet. 5:9
  • Godly Friends — Heb. 3:12-14
  • God does provide a “way of escape” — 1 Cor. 10:13
  • God uses temptation to work good in our lives — James 1:2-17

III. The Proper Perspective for Facing Temptation (Heb. 12:1-17)
1. The Christian Life is like a Long, Grueling Marathon — vs. 1

  • Not a quick sprint, the battle with sin is long and hard
  • Sin trips us up, and some non-sinful things can slow us down
  • We need endurance, to be in it for the long haul
  • It can be done, others have finished before us they testify to God’s grace, and they watch us finish our race

2. Our Focus needs to be on Christ, our Captain — vs. 2-3

  • Focusing on our failures and problems doesn’t solve anything, look away from ourselves to what Christ has done
  • Christ initiated our faith and will bring it to completion
  • When we fall, we must cling to the Gospel not self-effort
  • Jesus resisted sin “for the joy that was set before Him” we can also live now in light of Heaven’s joys (Phil. 3:13-14, 2 Pet. 3:11-14, Heb. 11:10, 13-16, 26)
  • Live in light of what is supremely true — that is faith

3. Battling sin is a struggle — like a boxing match — vs. 4

  • We haven’t even lost any blood in our match (others have)
  • There isn’t a magic “lose interest in sin” pill
  • Everyone struggles not just you (1 Cor. 10:13)
  • But with time, you can mortify sins and the battle gets easier (Rom. 8:13)
  • “Be killing sin or sin will be killing you.” — John Owen

4. Fighting sin is part of God’s discipline of his children — vs. 5-11

  • The trials of the Hebrew Christians primarily are in view when the author speaks of God’s “discipline”
  • But discipline is training or teaching as much as punishment
  • Vs. 4 “struggle against sin” , vs. 10 “share his holiness” , vs. 14 “strive for… holiness” as well as the weakness in vs. 12-13 argue for the battle against sin as being part of this “discipline”
  • So, this means the fight against sin (which isn’t easy), is part of what God ordains for us to make us holy
  • The struggle isn’t fun now, but it results in fruit (vs. 11)
  • And if you don’t experience this struggle, you just might not be a true son of God because every son experiences the struggles against sin
  • Be encouraged if you are struggling — that’s actually a good sign. Non-believers don’t struggle with sin
  • Take heart that God is behind our trials and temptations, and He wants them to mature us (James 1:2-4, 12-17)

5. Having this perspective on temptation, take heart! — vs. 12-13

  • We are tempted to give up and the race makes us weary — but take heart
  • Is. 35:3-4 is quoted: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come… He will come and save you.'”

6. Fighting sin is a team-sport — vs. 14-15

  • It’s like Tour-de-France, many members working toward the one goal of the victory — we look out for each other
  • Some can fall short, and miss out on God’s sustaining grace.
  • So we need to encourage each other (Heb. 3:12-14, 10:22-25)

7. The fight against sin does have real casualties — vs. 15-17

  • Holiness is required to see God — vs. 14 (and Matt. 5:8)
  • Some do fall away “bitter roots” (Deut. 29:18) & Esau — he sold his birthright for a bowl of stew (we are as foolish!)
  • Ultimately, the grace of God keeps us. Trust Him when you fail and sin. But take heart God’s not done with you!

Doctrinal Disagreements (on Secondary Matters): Just a Teaching Issue

~ Bob Hayton ~ 13 Comments

I just finished listening to the audio from the recent Standpoint Conference held at Southeast Valley Baptist Church in Gilbert, Arizona this past month. The conference was geared toward “young fundamentalists” and centered on Biblical fellowship (koinonia). Several of the messages were very good, and I plan to share some of my thoughts and commentary in the coming weeks.

The speaker for the last session was Mike Durning (a fellow ShaperIron member). His topic was: “How can Calvinists and not-so-Calvinists have Koinonia?” The message is worth listening to, as he hits on some important issues, particularly with relation to how bitter the Calvinism debate can get.

Toward the end of his message, however, he really hit the nail home. After mentioning that in the Bible church he pastors, at one time both a 5 point Calvinist and a very Arminian-leaning fellow were on the elder board together, he moved on to spell out some thoughts I find very important. I’m sharing my attempt at transcribing this section of the audio. I’ll give you the excerpt and encourage you to get the audio (it’s free) and listen to the whole thing.

Our church has been home to charismatics before. We politely insist that they not speak or pray in their imagined heavenly language. If they despair at someone for going to a doctor or, you know, they try to say that all sickness is of the devil, then we instruct them and if necessary we’d ask them to leave. But why close the door to helping someone grow in their understanding of Scripture?

We even had a charismatic on our board of deacons before, which is saying something because I preach against charismaticism a whole lot more then I would ever touch the issue of Calvinism or non-Calvinism. What’s wrong with them being with us, though? They worship with us, they hear the Word, why cut them off?

Our church has been home to historic a-mil guys, pre-trib pre-mil guys and everything in between. Our church has been home to dispensationalists and covenant theologians. Our church is home to both cessationists and some soft-cessationists, a few non-cessationists.

Do we have a taught position? Sure. And some of these things I teach far more firmly then I teach the issue of Calvinism or non-Calvinism. But those who truly know Christ and show up are welcome. And they’re our brothers and sisters.

Listen guys, once we know we’re dealing with believers, everything except rebellion is just a teaching issue. Did you catch that? If we know they’re believers, everything except rebellion is just a teaching issue. That’s the mindset.

You don’t have to march in lock-step with me to worship at my side. You don’t have to cow-tow to my view point to sit in my pew. You don’t have to agree with all things that I believe in order to work with me.

Is there a standard? Sure. Is unity based on a core of doctrine and practice? Sure. But to insist on 100% conformity to my viewpoint in order to fellowship, is arrogance — not separatism.

So, what do you think? I for one, think he is absolutely correct (when it comes to secondary matters). Let me know if you agree or disagree.

More on Helping Your Kids with Salvation

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

A few days ago, I posted on this question: How do we know our children are saved? After that post, I found a few more resources about this issue.

Justin Taylor highlighted a free series of sermons on how children come to Christ. The 6 part sermon series is available for free download.

My friend Jamsco of The Responsible Puppet, has a new blog about parenting: Responsible Father. One of his recent posts addresses this issue head on: Altar Calls for Children: I’m Against Them. As my previous post would let on, I agree with him on this one. Altar calls for children are more dangerous and confusing then helpful.

Finally, I should mention a book I’m working my way through. It’s by Donald Van Dyken, entitled Rediscovering Catechism: The Art of Equipping Covenant Children (2000, P&R publishing). Instilling the facts of the gospel into our children’s hearts is something we can all agree on. After this book, I’ll pick up Shepherding A Child’s Heart by Tedd Tripp (1995, Shepherd Press).

As parents, we can’t think more deeply about, or read more widely on this issue. It is the most vital aspect of our Christian parenting. Lord, have mercy — on us, and our children.

God, Why a Recession Now?

~ fundyreformed ~ 6 Comments

Many wouldn’t think of God as being behind the current economic slump. Some will use this recession as one more reason not to believe in Him. Or they’ll have one more reason to curse Him.

Our pastor, John Piper, however, believes God has a purpose for the recession. He went so far in Sunday’s sermon “What Is the Recession for?“, as to say something like: “This is God’s moment!” He is really pumped about the possibilities the recession brings.

I encourage you to listen to his sermon and start thinking biblically about our recession. To help encourage this, let me post the 5 points of the sermon here, compliments of the Desiring God Blog.

1. To expose hidden sin and so bring us to repentance and cleansing.
2. To wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world where there is always and only recession of the worst kind.
3. To relocate the roots of our joy in his grace rather than in our goods””in his mercy rather than our money, in his worth rather than our wealth.
4. To advance his saving mission in the world””the spread of the gospel and the growth of his church””precisely at a time when human resources are least able to support it. This is how he guards his glory.
5. To bring his church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love.

Check out Desiring God’s blog for a more detailed post. Or read/watch/listen/download the sermon for free at DesiringGod.org.