Concrete Reasoning

                 If something is existing by itself in order to do a task, and then another thing is doing a separate task alongside the first thing , is the first thing alone or together with the second thing??
Think about it for a minute.
I suppose after you finish shaking your head, you will say that of course whatever thing is first alone is obviously no longer alone when anything else joins it. Right? Confused?

                So for example, let's say one guy shows up to lay a slab of concrete out on the ground. At present, he is alone. He begins to guide the shoot of the concrete truck in order to run out the concrete mud into the right spot. Then let's say another man shows, and he begins to rake the mud around with a mud rake into a more level form within set boundary boards. Now, the first man and second man are together on the job. We would not say they are alone right?

Let's say a third man shows up, and then a fourth man, and then a fifth man. The third man is there to start screeding the concrete or leveling it out with a long bar or "screed". The fourth man is there to use a hand float or "mag" to smooth out the edges. The fifth man is there to run a large bull float over the majority of the slab to get a smooth finish.

                

                  It is natural for us to look at this scenario and say, "Hey, those guys are pouring a slab together." In other words we would not look at the group of guys and say they were alone. 

  

                 Here is where it gets interesting and we move to the heart of my point. In logical, reasonable actuality we can safely say that the first man is "pouring out the slab" alone. He is at the shoot behind the truck alone and sliding out the concrete onto the ground. We can say that the second man is raking the mud alone. It is right to say that the third man is screeding the concrete alone. We can easily say that the fourth man is floating the edges alone, and we know it is obvious that the fifth man is bull floating the main slab....alone. You see, the minute that an additional person actually puts their hand to the exact task that any one of these men are performing, then that specific task is being done not alone, but by more than one person. Even though all the men are operating in unison to perform the act of laying the slab, each has his own task and is doing it all by himself.
                     This is pure reason and causes us to think in ways that we do not always think.

              Here is why this exercise is so very important. When we look at God and the way He works in the lives of the elect, we see various elements operating entirely by themselves, and at the same time in perfect unison.
This is actually how life works, but for some reason when we look at God, we say,
                            "No that can't be right."
              In salvation as described by the Bible, God is on display, not man. We know from the accuracy and innerancy of God's Holy Word that the Almighty is more than capable of getting His instructions into our hands. One of the most important truths we can ever come to grips with is that God does not need us. He is actually God. Down through history, so many have tried to pervert the truth of God by adding to who He is, how He does things, and what it is that He does.  In fact, when Constantine merged Christianity with Roman statism and paganism, we ended up with a very grotesque beast that festooned the precious words of God with every kind of man-made trappings available.  False doctrines such as Transubstantiation, Baptismal Regenertion, baptizing of and praying for the dead, Purgatory, Indulgences, Tradition and extra-Biblical revelation, and works-based faith became rampant.
In the 1500's men began to raise up in faith and strength from God to declare these doctrines false and exhort the church and all those who would listen back to authentic, Biblical Christianity.

 This was the time of the Reformation.

If you call yourself a Christian, you can thank the Reformers that you do not kiss the ring of a priest on Sunday and say your "hail Marys".  You do not attend a Catholic Mass, because brave men stood up against the spirit of totalitarian, self-righteous maligning of God's word that the Christ Himself had faced in the religious men of His day.  Like the Ark from the flood, a bright hope of true believers emerged from the flood of apostasy that had threatened to destroy all of Christendom.

  Of the many precious confessions of sound, Biblical faith that emerged from the Great Reformation as lenses peering into the endless depths of Scripture, one amazing creed stands out. It is that of the
Five Solas. Sola is Latin for alone and is used in this creed to describe the secret workings of God. In Scripture, when we see the word "mystery" it is always describing that which is being revealed. We have everything that God wants us to have of Himself and these things are clearly defined in Scripture. It is quite OK to speak of such things, and to determine by God's Holy Word the right and wrong ways of perceiving them. A great mystery revealed is how God operates in the lives of those He elects unto salvation. This mystery is easily defined in the Five Solas. They are as follows:





1 Sola gratia ("by grace alone")
                        Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us. (Ephesians 1:3-8)





2 Sola fide ("by faith alone")
                                Even so Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness. Therefore, be sure that it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, "All the nations shall be blessed in you." So then those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham, the believer. For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them." Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, "The righteous man shall live by faith." (Galatians 3:6-11)



3 Solus Christus or Solo Christo ("Christ alone" or "through Christ alone")
                               There is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time...For He delivered us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. And He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created by Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the first-born from the dead; so that He Himself might come to have first place in everything. (1TI 2:5-6; COL 1:13-18)







4 Sola scriptura ("by Scripture alone")
                              All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. (Psalm 119:18; Psalm 138:2; II Tim. 3:14-17)





5 Soli Deo gloria ("glory to God alone")
                                Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God; Whoever speaks, let him speak, as it were, the utterances of God; whoever serves, let him do so as by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belongs the glory and dominion forever and ever. He has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father; to Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. To Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen. (1CO 10:31; 1PE 4:11; REV 1:6; 2PE 3:1; EPH 3:21; REV 7:12; ROM 11:36)

 

A great deal could be and indeed has been written on these five solas. My only endeavour here is just to show the reasonable logic of them. I used the concrete analogy to elaborate on my point and also to show how this logic applies to every area of our lives. How much more so the eternal Word of God. God established the laws of logic and of reason. We must look to Him and trust Him to be faithful in all He says and does.

 

We cannot and must not say that salvation is by Grace plus our good ideas; Faith plus our righteous works; Christ plus Mary; Scripture plus additional writing and revelation; all for the Glory of God plus for man's glory as well.

None of this foolish reasoning is Biblical neither does it even make sense.

 
            You may have noticed a difference between my initial analogy and the Five Solas themselves. My analogy just dealt with five guys doing tasks. However, look at the last Sola. It says,
                      FOR THE GLORY OF GOD ALONE.
         This is our end cause. So if we were to be complete in the analogy we may say our end cause was to set a shed on the concrete slab, or to play basketball on it, or build a house, whatever we want there is an end cause. The end cause of salvation far surpasses anything our simple, finite minds can fathom in all our laboring over earthly causes. The end cause is the Glory of God! Friends I want to tell you this is lost on our culture. The reality is, God glorifies Himself so that we may receive ultimate pleasure. If He were to glorify anything else He would no longer be God.

   
     There is no truer way to perceive God than perceiving Him as big as you can. Because even then, you are not quite there, not by a long shot, but you are closer than if you are trying to look at Him in a box. You are much closer than if you are trying to compare Him to man.
God works alone in all He does, for one, because our works are as filthy rags to Him, and two, His power is beyond the scope of our imagination. 
It is so vital to purge all the needless, man-centered additions we labor to attribute unto the work of God. In fact, our additions are blasphemy and pervert His Holy Word. Jude speaks of those who "sensualize the Word of God" and this is done when we strive so hard to cram our fleshly ways into the pure and clear text of the Living God. All His precious ways are sufficient unto themselves, and praise Him for it, because if they weren't we would have no hope.

a wretch in His grace,
Dan 
 

Definite Redemption

  "I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me,  just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep."

John 10:14-15

      I remember as a youngster just sitting there thinking about my eternal salvation. As a church kid I had been told time and again that I would go to hell if I sinned and that I needed Jesus to come into my heart. All I had to do was ask. Then I heard countless sermons describing something known as backsliding. That is to say, after being saved a person can then "slide" into sin thereby nullifying his salvation. This of course, all hinged on accepting and subsequently keeping the free gift offered by Jesus Christ to every human being on the face of the planet. So there I was, literally "tripping out" for lack of a better phrase, over whether or not I, the person known as Dan Peterman, would be in Heaven with God when I died. I would allow my mind to go back and forth looking at the only two realities of the state of my being after death I knew to be true from Scripture; this destiny I had that God knew, but I did not.  You see, I also understood as a boy that if God is actually God, then He knows all things from beginning to end. The ramifications of all these things meant that although I did not know if I would make it, God did, and it was set in stone. So I just wasted time looking at the vascilating paradox of the unknown absolute of my eternal salvation.
      It has been said that bad theology will ruin your life. Without going into detail, let's just say that I could be a poster child for this statement. While I am thankful for being raised with a general Biblical worldview, the quality of that worldview left much to be desired. The blame for this rests solely at the foot of the church as for the last hundred years she has promulgated wrong-headed theology and compromised the Gospel. Did you know that nowhere in Scripture does it say that we must, "ask Jesus into our heart"? Additionally, and more importantly, nowhere does the Bible describe God ever losing those He has saved.

      Praise God for His amazing grace and His divine sovereignty! Just as Christ is constantly intercessing to bring about any good at all through church organizations despite many and varied shortcomings, so it is that the Holy Spirit reveals the true nature of God to those whom He chooses.

      The fact is, what Christ accomplished on the cross was definite and final for all those He has decided to save! This is the greatest news we could ever hear for at the end of the day, when we are alone and honest with ourselves, we know that there is no way we could ever do anything whatsoever to gain or keep the righteousness required to exist with God for all eternity. In fact, most of the time we fail miserably as Christians to follow Christ's commands. In other words, nothing you or I can ever do will trump what Christ has done on the cross. What He has done will prove out in the lives of His elect and it can never nor will it ever be undone.

I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me,  is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand.
John 10:28-29


        Are you a Universalist? That is, do you believe that God will ultimately save everyone and no one will go to hell? If so, you are believing in something un-Biblical. Likewise, when we say that Christ died for everyone meaning that He took their sins upon Himself then we make Him out to be a liar and a failure, because we know people go to hell. Take a moment to think about it before contnuing on with what you have been told. If Christ has died for a sinner, then that sinner is saved. Period. If the sinner for whom Christ dies were to go to hell, then his sins would be paid for twice and Christ would have failed. This view that Christ died for all, but that His death has no saving effect without an added faith and repentance not forseen in His death is what we would term a Hypothetical Universalism. This too, is completely un-Biblical.
 
       We may say that Christ reconciled the whole world to Himself, but He REDEEMED a certain people. That is, by His atonement on the cross is the enemy bruised and by the longsuffering of God because of Christ's sacrifice does the world still turn on its axis and men still roll out of bed in the morning. At the same time, by His imputation of righteousness into the accounts of the elect and the propitiation of our sins onto Him, based on nothing in us but based on everything in Christ, are men saved to the uttermost! This is our assurance! This is our blessed song!
 

        Telling people they can lose their salvation has been a man-made way of scaring folks into holy living. This camp of believers will say in opposition that if we tell someone that they will be saved to the uttermost then they will live like hell! To this I say that man will always test God as far as he can if left to his own schemes. Seeing God as someone who cannot even hold on to what He has picked up, will cause man to live more dangerously than if he sees God as actually God! If he sees God as forever shaping and sanctifying that which God has justified, causing him to look forward to when he will be glorified, well my friends, then he will forever be seeking his ultimate joy and reward in the giver of all these things!
     The doctrine of Limited Atonement or Definite Atonment and the doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints are closely linked. What we are talking about is the fact that Christ on the cross said,
                             "It is Finished."
      Christ has saved a people on Calvary. That day were many preserved unto election, regeneration, justification, sanctification, and eventual glorification.
      Likewise, eternal life is just that.... eternal. It is a gift from God that one can never lose, because it is not theirs to lose. It is God's, He is the giver, and He has promised that it is eternal and will never fade.
 If someone finds themselves without Christ when they die, then you can be assured they were never regenerated at any point in their life.

      The reality is Christ died for a particular people. This does not mean that we do not proclaim the Gospel to the entire world. The New Testament teaches that God chose for Himself  a great number of the fallen race and sent Christ into the world to save them. Christ is said to have died for a certain people, with the clear impliction that His death secured their salvation. Without questioning the infinite worth of Christ's sacrifice or the genuineness of God's sincere invitation to all who hear the Gospel, we see clearly from Scripture that Christ in dying intended to take away the sins of God's elect, and to ensure that they would all be brought to faith through regeneration and preserved through faith for glory.

           Before He died Christ prayed for those the Father had given Him and not for the world.
"I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.  All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them."
John 17:9-10


           Sound doctrines like Limited Atonement were what I was missing as a child, and you can be certain my own children will have these prescious truths of the nature of God written on the tables of their hearts.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:37-39

Regeneration Precedes Faith

By R. C. Sproul



One of the most dramatic moments in my life for the shaping of my theology took place in a seminary classroom. One of my professors went to the blackboard and wrote these words in bold letters: "Regeneration Precedes Faith."



These words were a shock to my system. I had entered seminary believing that the key work of man to effect rebirth was faith. I thought that we first had to believe in Christ in order to be born again. I use the words in order here for a reason. I was thinking in terms of steps that must be taken in a certain sequence. I had put faith at the beginning. The order looked something like this:



"Faith - rebirth -justification."



I hadn’t thought that matter through very carefully. Nor had I listened carefully to Jesus’ words to Nicodemus. I assumed that even though I was a sinner, a person born of the flesh and living in the flesh, I still had a little island of righteousness, a tiny deposit of spiritual power left within my soul to enable me to respond to the Gospel on my own. Perhaps I had been confused by the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church. Rome, and many other branches of Christendom, had taught that regeneration is gracious; it cannot happen apart from the help of God.



No man has the power to raise himself from spiritual death. Divine assistance is necessary. This grace, according to Rome, comes in the form of what is called prevenient grace. "Prevenient" means that which comes from something else. Rome adds to this prevenient grace the requirement that we must "cooperate with it and assent to it" before it can take hold in our hearts.



This concept of cooperation is at best a half-truth. Yes, the faith we exercise is our faith. God does not do the believing for us. When I respond to Christ, it is my response, my faith, my trust that is being exercised. The issue, however, goes deeper. The question still remains: "Do I cooperate with God's grace before I am born again, or does the cooperation occur after?" Another way of asking this question is to ask if regeneration is monergistic or synergistic. Is it operative or cooperative? Is it effectual or dependent? Some of these words are theological terms that require further explanation.



A monergistic work is a work produced singly, by one person. The prefix mono means one. The word erg refers to a unit of work. Words like energy are built upon this root. A synergistic work is one that involves cooperation between two or more persons or things. The prefix syn -



means "together with." I labor this distinction for a reason. The debate between Rome and Luther hung on this single point. At issue was this: Is regeneration a monergistic work of God or a synergistic work that requires cooperation between man and God? When my professor wrote "Regeneration precedes faith" on the blackboard, he was clearly siding with the monergistic answer. After a person is regenerated, that person cooperates by exercising faith and trust. But the first step is the work of God and of God alone.



The reason we do not cooperate with regenerating grace before it acts upon us and in us is because we can- not. We cannot because we are spiritually dead. We can no more assist the Holy Spirit in the quickening of our souls to spiritual life than Lazarus could help Jesus raise him for the dead.



When I began to wrestle with the Professor's argument, I was surprised to learn that his strange-sounding teaching was not novel. Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, George Whitefield - even the great medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas taught this doctrine. Thomas Aquinas is the Doctor Angelicus of the Roman Catholic Church. For centuries his theological teaching was accepted as official dogma by most Catholics. So he was the last person I expected to hold such a view of regeneration. Yet Aquinas insisted that regenerating grace is operative grace, not cooperative grace. Aquinas spoke of prevenient grace, but he spoke of a grace that comes before faith, which is regeneration.



These giants of Christian history derived their view from Holy Scripture. The key phrase in Paul's Letter to the Ephesians is this: "...even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace have you been saved)" (Eph. 2:5). Here Paul locates the time when regeneration occurs. It takes place 'when we were dead.' With one thunderbolt of apostolic revelation all attempts to give the initiative in regeneration to man are smashed. Again, dead men do not cooperate with grace. Unless regeneration takes place first, there is no possibility of faith.



This says nothing different from what Jesus said to Nicodemus. Unless a man is born again first, he cannot possibly see or enter the kingdom of God. If we believe that faith precedes regeneration, then we set our thinking and therefore ourselves in direct opposition not only to giants of Christian history but also to the teaching of Paul and of our Lord Himself.





(from the book, The Mystery of the Holy Spirit, Tyndale House, 1990

Gospel Call Update #9

Well, we made it out the other night. Good times.
Glad to see my brother in Christ Zach out for the first time to do street evangelism! He told me that he is definitely hooked.  Awesome.
Despite the brisk night atmosphere, in all, Josh, Zach, Michael, Jesse, and myself stepped out onto the BSU campus to share the Good News with everyone we could find.

We had a large number of fascinating conversations that were heated and mellow alike. They involved such things as Mormonism, Atheism, and Pantheism. We had encouragement from a young lady that said the campus needs more open-air preaching! Praise God! Another young girl was from the Drive church and she was not comfortable with open-air preaching, however we spoke with her for some time and she was very willing to listen and seemed genuinely teachable. There were many other great witnessing experiences with the students.  If you go to The Well, please ask one of the gentlemen mentioned above about their experiences in witnessing to the lost. I know they would be more than happy to tell you about it.

  One student we spoke with who's name was Tre(short for Robert somebody the 3rd) said he was part of a fraternity and they had a Christian statement of faith.  Michael was speaking with him for some time before I walked up. This particular individual had absolutely zero Bible learning, yet I have rarely met a more inquisitive guy on the street. The questions he asked were those such as "Can God make a rock that He cannot lift?" or "Why didn't the Apostles just go get Christ down off the cross?" 
We took those opportunities to declare God's sovereign free grace, and I want to give a thanks out to Matt Marino my pastor for the brilliant shepherding God is doing through him so that many of us are more than equipped to field questions with powerful and penetrating answers.
Tre listened quite intently and he asked question after question. As I stepped away, Michael talked with him still longer and ended up getting contact information into Tre's hands as well as a promise from the guy to check out Sunday service.
We will see. Pray for Tre.

   Shawn was there and he preached for awhile until a Mormon guy came up and started asking him questions. at that point Shawn just engaged him and they debated for some time while the rest of us were having
                 Gospel-centered conversations.

                                       One fellow I got hold of was trying to leave but took the time to tell me that he had a belief, it just wasn't the same as mine and that was OK. He said that he believed in a higher power, but not the God of the Bible. Again, he was trying so hard to leave, so I held him to the grindstone and tried to get him to give me his source of truth. In the end he just said himself. I told him that was frightening and exhorted him to believe in Christ. He said he did not believe Christ is God, so I informed him that Christ would be denying him before the Father if he continued in his unbelief. His friend walked up and they left while mocking me.

Praise Christ for His Word and promises are eternal and no man or demon can ever snuff out what He has done!!!

Please remember to pray for this ministry and pray for those who would hear the Word of God.

As we began to leave the campus several things became apparent to us.  This city is ripe for the picking, God is doing something amazing amongst the brethren at The Well, it is indescribable joy to participate in the Great Commision, and ......summer is coming.

Gospel Call Update #8

Hi all! This is a combination of the last two times we went out to evangelize. As I have noted before, I will probably be combining two or three ventures at a time now that the ministry is growing and we are hitting the streets more frequently. These updates are intended to let you know how to pray for us and to get excited about evangelism. We always need more Christians to join!

 We headed to downtown Boise Thursday, January the 13th during a steady rain. It was around 630pm and we numbered 6 brothers total. There was certainly hesitancy about continuing with  plans due to the rain. We were not so much concerned about ourselves, but the amount of people who would be around. As is often the case, we are reminded by the Holy Spirit that it is not about the amount of folks, but the quality of the message. The Gospel will always do its job and we remain confident that if we go out, God will lead us to just the person He wants us to speak with whether it be amongst a crowd of a thousand or just a few passing pedestrians. Primarily, open-air preaching is about the glorification of Christ our Lord. It says in I Corinthians 10:31
  "So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."
How much more so the very proclamation of God's Gospel? So it is that if there were not one soul present, we would still preach the Gospel and take joy in God's glory! The fruit of which can and will be the salvation of souls.

After three hours of fascinating conversations and passing out tracts, we prayed in a circle together and headed home. As we walked we were approached by a man with whom I had spoken earlier along with two of his fellows. They had stated that they were from Montana, were Bible-believing, non-denominational Christians and told me of a men's weekend they were here to organize called "Tres Dias"(Three Days). I listened intently and politely exhorted them to the fellowship of the brotherhood. They mentioned the Vineyard and a couple of local pastors and despite my misgivings I was congenial and agreeable. Then when I spoke of what God was doing through us on the street they rejected it. They said that we should never purposely give anyone the "bad news" about the Gospel, but that God was love and that is what the sinner needs to hear. I pointed out that God does not love everyone the same and they seemed appalled. I stated Psalm 5:5 and Psalm 7:11. I then pointed out Romans 9 and spoke of Jacob and Esau. They became extremely agitated and said that God's hatred is based on the actions of the sinner and we should always exhort others to love. As I began to explain the Gospel, they said they had to go.

    So now, here was this lone man approaching me while his buddies climbed into their ride. He immediately confronted me and proceeded to inform me that my approach to him and his friends was wrong. Immediately, I was incensed as I had laboured intently to be compassionate to them despite my visceral, gut reactions to their words during our previous conversation. I had pulled punches with them. However, he said that I had single-handedly turned away himself and two other Christian men by my statements about God. He then asked me how many people had repented and turned to God by my witnessing.
    Now, I am writing about this because I responded out of anger. I handled this situation wrongly at this point. I have been in some very hostile situations witnessing on the street, but no one has ever gotten under my skin the way this man did. The best thing I said was to question him how it was that men responding to Christ was a determiner of the power of the Gospel. Please explain to me how experience trumps the Word of God?   However, he "got my goat" so to speak and instead of just allowing him to rant and then expositing Scripture to him, I allowed this fellow to make me mad. The conversation became  heated and at some point I had decided to just speak over him and so both of us were speaking at a higher decibel level. As he walked away, I felt justified based on my kid-glove treatment of them earlier to say a couple of things about the Vineyard and a pastor. This was extremely wrong of me in this context, no matter the validity of the crass statements I made.

  God is faithful to forgive and He always guides and teaches us through every trial. I am so thankful for a Gospel-loving church and doctrinally sound leaders whom God has used to counsel me through my walk. As we step out in obedience to God, He will always be transforming us to the likeness of His Son. Please pray for us that this would happen thoroughly and deeply within our hearts and spirits.

On a more exciting note, the Snoop Dog concert was perhaps one of the biggest evangelistic opportunities of the year and we were there to preach and proclaim the Kingdom of Christ our Lord. I started off preaching atop a milk crate as they all filed inside the Knitting Factory music venue. I preached John 1 and hammered home the Word becoming flesh. I also preached the Blood of Christ shed for sinners like you and like me. After they went inside, TJ, Chisum, Jesse, and I began to witness to those who were outside.

TJ has some words on what took place:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------




Snoop Dogg Evangelism



"Yes…there was a Snoop Dogg concert in Boise this last Friday. In an effort to engage many who would not otherwise step into a traditional religious context on Sunday morning, we headed down to the Knitting Factor. Jesse, Dan, Chisum, and I had the opportunity to speak to the young and old, a Hindu, some Catholics, the cultural Christians, a few Muslims, Atheist and skeptics, several LDS members, a few gang members, and several nationalities….anyway, you get the idea. I doubt Mr. Dogg had any idea he was going to be used as an evangelism tool, but that is what happened. We handed out several hundred tracts, had some very somber conversations concerning the Gospel and some not so somber ones. We had the opportunity to open air preach as many entered and left the concert. In the end, the Gospel was proclaimed to a lot of people, pray that some were provoked to obey the proclamation."
TJ O'Brien
obrien.tj@gmail.com

We were passing out sermon jams by Piper, Allsitair Begg, Paul Washer, and others all on one disc. We also had a number of discs containing reformed Christian hip-hop. These cd's were provided by Chisum and I believe they are extremely effective. We also had some great tracts from Piper and Mark Driscoll.

Many people we spoke with stated that they were Christians, but became convicted by sound Gospel-centered words.
The crowd was surprisingly docile. The local law enforcement were certainly prepared for a riot and they indeed made a few arrests. However, the general attitude was one of indifference and we experienced the protection of Christ.
 

When the concert began to let out TJ preached the Gospel. He got a few people gathered around him and he was engaging them with questions about their own perceived goodness. Awesome. Then I got up and preached my guts out, but my voice had begun to wane. Charles Spurgeon says to swallow a little olive oil before you go out so I think I will try that this week as we head to the BSU campus to preach and witness.

a wretch in His grace,
Dan

Gospel Call Update #7

  Well it's ten days late, however I must post the update from our New Year's Eve street preaching and evangelism. I am thoroughly enjoying this blog and I would love for more people to click the "Follow" button to the right and stay dialed in to the posts. There are two other contributors to this blog and I want everyone to know that this blog is for the Fame of His Name! This blog is for God's glory and not mine. This blog is for Truth and not opinion.
 
  Ok, so New Year's Eve in Boise, Idaho was right at about ten degrees Fahrenheit. Let's just say that I had my ski bibs on to go a' preachin'! We opted for 8th and Idaho streets again as that is the scene of a local gay bar. I know that the optimal setting is that many would gather under the proclamation of the Gospel. Many times on the street, you are only preaching to those who pass by; And that is fine as they do hear the Gospel, but it is so much better to have an attentive audience. So on a night as cold as it was December 31st we knew the best place was a busy intersection. The gay club I mentioned is called The Balcony. It is on the second level of a building and has a large balcony that wraps from one corner to the next. It is ideal because many gather outside on the balcony of The Balcony to smoke. Therefore, we have much opportunity for an audience. I need not mention that this particular audience is also extremely repulsed by the Gospel. Nevertheless, the ultimate reason we preach is that Christ is glorified and in doing so you never know who He may be working on.
 
  This was also an important night because it was Josh's first time street preaching. Josh is my good brother in Christ whom I have known for 5 years and he has recently been ordained at The Well where I attend the Body. It was very exciting and we arrived to find our friends already engaged in the loud proclamation of the Gospel using a small PA system that just hangs around the neck. The young man preaching I had yet to meet. His name was Jake and he and his wife are just out of college and have been traveling the country preaching! He was very good and clearly exposited Christ and Him crucified! Shawn Holes was present as well as his wife. Kevin and Lyza, Shawn's son-in-law and daughter, were there as well as my other brother in Christ, Chisum. 

  Shortly, we were engaged with several different people who were quite hostile. Two young men obviously   gay had passed us and then came storming back to the corner. Chisum and I cut them off before they could get to Jake who was preaching. It is important that the one preaching not be waylayed too long from his task to deliver the sermon. Many times, this is the only goal of a heckler. As we spoke with them, one man was extremely agitated and spoke through gritted teeth. I quickly asked him if he was a good person; he said yes. I pressed him with questions about righteousness and he stuttered out answers but kept trying to talk over me.
  He wanted nothing to do with any of us, only to proclaim his judgement that we were judging. I told him we only proclaimed God's judgement. He then got very close to me and exclaimed he was a marine and his partner was army. I asked him what that had to do with righteousness. He scoffed and they stomped away. Poor guys, so deceived.

  Then while Jake was preaching, a man came out of the Japanese restaurant from across the street. He was obviously one of the cooks and he walked very fast. He walked right up to Jake and asked him to shut up. Jake asked him if he had ever read the Bible. The man then slapped Jake across the face in an attempt to knock the microphone off his head. I couldn't believe it and walked briskly over to inform the man that he was going to face assault charges. The man said he had already called the police. I said good and told him not to move. He scoffed and walking back inside told me to go home to my mother, whatever that meant. Jake did not want to press charges and we just kept on evangelizing never once hearing from the police on this subject proving the man had lied.

Several other conversations took place with the general environment being very hostile. Out of all tracts offered we probably had about a 20% acceptance of them. This is far less than normal.  I spoke with a man who used the old argument of  "I'm spiritual, not religious". Josh had a conversation with a Jewish atheist who had been yelling at me while I preached. You can bet that was a fascinating talk! There was a young couple who were very focused on "setting us straight". They talked with almost all of us at length arguing that we had no idea what we were talking about, we were ignorant, and we were doing more harm to our cause than good.  They could not hear anything we said and they left mocking us. Another man spoke with me because he said he "got a kick out of listening to religious guys trying to explain the existence of God."  His girlfriend explained that she had been a Christian but now did not believe that the Bible is accurate and only wanted to be "kind" to people. I argued for Christ with them and also used the cosmological argument for the existence of God with the man, but they too had a spirit of mockery about them. In fact, as they left I told the woman without Christ she was hellbound and she threw her hands in the air and leapt while exclaiming she guessed she was "heading to hell!"

As I was preaching a police car pulled up. All the homosexuals on the balcony started cheering and saying, "Take 'em away!" The thing is, the man driving was Steve. You see, Steve goes to my church and he was just stopping to exhort us and encourage us. Praise God!! I have to say that the police force here in Boise have been extremely gracious to us in that they are actually upholding the law and protecting our right to free speech. In today's America with so many rogue police operations and abuse of power, I cannot say enough about the amazing freedom-mindedness of our Boise Police Department.

Josh got up to preach and it was awesome. He clearly exposited the Gospel to all kinds of people who mocked him as they walked by. One car of girls screamed at him not to judge. Another woman walking by yelled at him that tonight was not the night to be preaching! He just kept preaching like a real trooper and froze his toes half off!! LOL! It is a joy to suffer for Christ my brotha'!!

Later I actually had a young lesbian try to attack me, but her cousin held her back. Her cousin did let her go and the woman got in my face and I said to her that she must be saved to see the Kingdom of God. She stared at me for a moment and then stormed away visibly shaken.

Shawn and Chisum stood below the balcony and spoke with several homosexuals about truth and righteousness. The sodomites were very hostile and just yelled obscenities.

Shawn, Josh, and I both had more mic time and preached our guts out. It was as amazing as always to proclaim Christ and His coming! In fact, I can think of nothing better to do on the eve of a new year! We stood together as brothers and sisters in Christ boldly declaring that the Lord of the Universe is righteous and holy and just and good and loving. We proclaimed the reality of God and His direct involvement in His creation. We shouted from the "rooftops" the Good News.

Please pray for our ministry and for the Lord to send more workers to this ripe harvest in our city.

Gospel Call Update #6

Hello everyone, my prayers are with you as we head into the winter and all that God promises us through the changing of the season. Sometimes we wonder if God is listening, or if He answers our prayers. There is a country song that says He always does, it's just that sometimes the answer is "no".
Bad music aside, we do need to be reminded that we are victorious in Christ Almighty in the face of ALL opposition and seeming defeat!

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,


“For your sake we are being killed all the day long;
we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”


37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-37
                                                                                     
Oh friends, if this precious reality lives in you, then you must sense the urgency to proclaim it! As God keeps us and tests us let us remember that His gospel is the greatest news that could ever be told. If we are saved we should have a burning desire to tell others of His holy sovereignty and judgement as well as His amazing free grace and wonderful love.
  
    "The Love of Christ compells me!" as Paul wrote in his letter to the Corinthians.

I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Galatians 2:20

This Paul declared for the world to know so that many would come to.....
....... know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:19

So last night Michael and I showed up on BSU campus and we shared the priceless Gospel. Michael spoke at length with an African man who claimed to be Catholic. After asking His beliefs it became apparent he had fallen into the lies of Universalism and believed that all return to a state of purity at death and are saved to Heaven. Michael brought him to the hard truths of the opposing claims of different religions and made the man to reason that not all could be correct. In the end this person was of the mind that no one could ever know whose "sacred book" was right. We explained that Christ was the only One who ever stood in the gap between us and God. He said it was a Western concept that there had to be a payment for something. What!?  He had to go and we lamented that we could not have had more time with him as he was a pleasure to speak with and a challenge to debate.

It was raining so we just decided to make a loop and come back while we passed out tracts and looked for more conversation about God. Stopping in front of the library I preached a short, loud sermon that brought a man out who yelled that folks were trying to study. I asked if he were studying the Bible. Another man said I was being intolerant, because I had spoke ill of his religion. I asked him which religion and he said, "Science." When I attempted to ask him more questions he feigned irritation with me so I kept on preaching. I had another heckler who just hollered at me while he kept on walking. I told him I couldn't hear him and to come speak to me, but he kept on going. I finished a proclamation of the Law and Judgement of God, repentance of sins, and the only Way of Christ our Lord just as the campus clock sounded out the booming gongs of 7pm.

Michael and I moved on laughing and praising God, all the while handing out gospel tracts. We even made up a few stanzas to a parody song about being "just a good person" which we hear as a response so often. You kinda' had to be there, but let me tell ya' it was hilarious.

As we go out more and more often I may combine the updates, but please consider joining us or at least comitting to praying for our exhortation in the Word and for the cultivation of the fallow ground of the hearts of sinners.

Blessings to you and more free grace in our Lord  and Saviour Jesus Christ.