Prosperity Teachers and Old Testament Texts pt. 4

In this video, we are discussing Isaiah 53 and prosperity teachers use of this text to justify guaranteed divine healing. This passage is perhaps prosperity teachers greatest proof text for promoting the notion that God wants you to be totally healthy and live a long suffering free life. While this sounds good and appealing, is this what the Scriptures really mean when they say "by His stripes you were healed"? Check out this video and post your thoughts, ideas, agreements, disagreements, and comments.

Prosperity Teachers and Old Testament Texts pt.3

(Pardon the funny face in the video...yes, I did it on purpose lol...its called passion) In this video, I want to see how prosperity teachers use the book of Job to justify their teachings. Many times, instead of facing the text for what it says, prosperity teachers go to great lengths to convince their listeners that Job's sufferings were unique and were not ultimately from God, while at the same time, they will easily affirm God's great blessing on Job's life. I look at quotes from Kenneth Copeland and Joseph Prince in this video to see how their teaching compares to scripture. Below are the links to the articles and sermon which I quoted from: Acting in Fear: A Look at Job's Life - Kenneth Copeland Satan Cannot Come Before God - Joseph Prince Why Good People Suffer - Answers from Job's Story - Joseph Prince Religion Doesn't Help You, Faith Does - Kenneth Copeland

Prosperity Teachers and the Old Testament pt. 2

 In this video, I am continuing to answer the question "How do prosperity teachers use Old Testament texts to justify their teachings?" Deuteronomy 28 is a popular passage that many prosperity teachers use to show that obedience to God's Word merits financial and material prosperity. On the contrary, prosperity teachers believe that the curse spoken about in Deuteronomy is the curse of the law and is essentially poverty and that this curse comes through disobedience to God's word. What does the Bible say about this passage and how we should properly interpret it? Let me know your thoughts, comments, agreements, and disagreements.

Prosperity Teachers and the Old Testament pt. 1

 This video is in response to a question I was asked recently, "How do prosperity teachers use Old Testament texts in order to justify their teachings (a.k.a the prosperity gospel)?" In this video I give an overview of "The Blessing of Abraham" as taught by prosperity teachers and what the Bible says about Abraham's blessing. I wrote on this a few months ago and I use a lot of the same points I wrote here. The verses that I cover in this video are: 

 Genesis 12:3 

 Genesis 24:34-35 

 Galatians 3:5-9

Reformed and Charismatic? A Look at Spiritual Gifts in the Life of the Church

I listened to this sermon recently that was preached at the Desiring God Pastors Conference by Tope Koleoso. It rocked me. If you are looking for a good sermon to listen to on how the spiritual gifts function in the life of a gospel centered, Christ-exalting church...(minus the chaos)...this is a great sermon to listen to. My biggest takeaway from this is that we cannot allow fear to cause us to limit or constrain the Holy Spirit and how he wants to work in our preaching, and in our praying for the sick and deliverance of those oppressed by Satanic opposition. The same Spirit who empowers the former, empowers the latter. Thoughts and comments are welcomed.

A Call to be Rigorous and Discriminating in our Doctrinal Knowledge

This was taken from John Piper's sermon on Galatians 1:6-10 entitled "When Not to Believe an Angel". Piper's challenge to his church is to not be babes in their thinking but to think and think hard about the essential and foundational doctrines of Christianity. The gospel is something that as Christians we must be clear on. Heresy and false teaching are very real threats to the church that often arise not from outside of the church but from the inside. Our experiences and feelings as Christians should never be elevated above or replace our thinking about the gospel or foundational Christian teachings.

And what makes that underlying truth in the text so powerful is that the "different gospel" in the churches of Galatia was not a religion from a foreign land. It was a close counterfeit to the real thing. The people in verse 7 who were perverting the gospel were professing Christians. They probably belonged to the church in Jerusalem and knew its leaders (2:12). This "different gospel" was not on the order of Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam. It was an in-house distortion. It was promoted by men who called themselves Christian "brothers" (2:4).

So another implication of verses 6 and 7 for us is that doctrinal maturity is not a luxury at Bethlehem. It is a necessity. If a "different gospel," which is no gospel but only a perversion, can spring up inside the church, then surely we must make it our aim to become rigorous and discriminating in our doctrinal knowledge. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:20, "Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; be babes in evil, but in thinking be mature." Galatians is one of the best books in the Bible for helping us refine and clarify what the heart of the gospel is, which can't be replaced or altered. There is a tragic pattern in churches and in history, I think. Renewal breaks forth on a church or on an age through a fresh encounter with the gospel and the Spirit. Hearts are filled with the love of Christ, and mouths are filled with praise. The concern for evangelism and justice rises.

But in all the glorious stirrings of heart there begins to be an impatience with doctrinal refinements. Clear doctrine requires thought, and thought is seen to be the enemy of feeling, so it is resisted. There is the widespread sense that the Holy Spirit will guard the church from all error, and so rigorous study and thought about the gospel are felt to be not only a threat to joy but a failure of faith. The result over a generation is the emergence of a people whose understanding of biblical teaching is so hazy and imprecise that they are sitting ducks for the Galatian heresy. It arises right in their midst. Paul said to the elders of Ephesus in Acts 20:30, "From among your own selves will arise men speaking distorted things to draw away the disciples after them." He says in verse 27 that he has done his part to prepare them by "declaring the whole counsel of God." I hope to be able to say the same thing some day about Bethlehem: "I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God."

Your Faith Has Made You Well

"Your faith has made you well....."

I've often wondered about this statement made by Jesus concerning the woman who touched the hymn of His garment and was made whole. Was it her faith that made her whole or was it her faith that made her whole? The difference between these two statements is huge, as the former suggests that faith is something that we posses which we use to obtain something. The latter statement suggests that it is the belief and trust in someone or something (faith) who is able to do something which we are unable to do in and of ourselves.  R.C. Sproul, in his commentary on the Gospel of Mark, provides some good insight concerning this passage. Mark 5:24-34 says,

 And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.” 

Sproul states

What did Jesus say to her? He did not say, "Daughter, your touch has made you well." Neither did he say, "Daughter, My garments have made you well." No. He said, "Daughter, your faith has made you well" (v. 34a). What did He mean? There was no intrinsic power in her faith. Her faith was not the efficient cause of her healing; Jesus was. But her faith was the instrumental cause of her healing. Just as in our justification, God does not declare us righteous because there is any inherent righteousness in our faith, prompting God to say, "Because you have faith, I will save you." No, faith is the instrumental cause of justification because it is the tool or instrument by which we take hold of Christ. Christ is the efficient cause of our justification. In the same way, it was Jesus who healed the woman.

2 Sermons by Demetrius White

These are  two great sermons by a good friend of mine, Demetrius White. This brother has truly been a blessing to me and an encouragement to so many others. He recently preached on the New Birth from John 3 and yesterday he gave an awesome sermon on the book of Numbers. Check these out and enjoy!

The New Birth - by Demetrius White

Numbers - by Demetrius White

B.Graves on the Holy Spirit

Yesterday, my brother, Brandon, got the opportunity to speak at his church for a few minutes on the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The audio can be found here. I'm so proud of this dude! Check it out.

Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself...

              So after thinking over some potential topics for a while, I've decided to start posting some shorter posts on the Attributes of God. This series will be called "Allow Me To Re-Introduce Myself...", derived from the Jay-Z Black Album song, "PSA". Why call it this?  Other than it being a cool name for a series, the attributes of God have nothing to do with Jay-Z, but have everything to do with God, the Creator, Sustainer, and Author of all things. At the most basic level, what we think about God will shape everything about us. I don't intend to unpack each attribute in an exhaustive way, but my only hope is to state the attribute of God's character and provide some practical ways on how His character has everything to do with us. For this brief look at the manifold characteristics and essence of the One True God, I will use two voices from the past in addition to the scriptures in order to help me communicate the attributes of God. The first will be A.W. Tozer's "The Knowledge of The Holy", and the second source will be Stephen Charnock's "The Existence and Attributes of God".

What do God's attributes and characteristics have to do with us? Why are they important? Of what benefit will they be to my life, other than being able to spell "omnipotent" in Words with Friends? Hopefully the next few posts in this series will be able to answer these questions. To begin, here is a quote from the late A.W. Tozer on the importance of having a right view of God.

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. The history of mankind will probably show that no people has ever risen above its religion, and man's spiritual history will positively demonstrate that no religion has ever been greater than its idea of God. Worship is pure or base as the worshiper entertains high or low thoughts of God."

 Tozer's words could not ring any louder. Firstly, God is important because in the Bible, God's Word about Himself, God tells us that He is the most supreme being both inside and outside of anything and everything that is known.Because He is that, He deserves our worship, honor, and love. If God is supreme in His being - supreme in power, life, love, righteousness, and justice -then to attribute to anyone or anything else supremacy and worship is not only wrong and misplaced, but un-fulfilling. God's attributes are important because it is through these characteristics that we are able to attain an incomprehensible, yet true view of who God is. It isn't  enough to simply know that there is a God and that He has a few good attributes that seem to benefit us and the world we live in. Almost anyone we can think of who will affirm that there is a God will affirm that He is a creator, good, loving, and generous, and these are all good things to know; but to only know these things about God is incomplete. In the Bible, God presents Himself completely, in that we can know what we know about Him in truth, yet what we know truly about Him isn't a fraction of what we can know about Him exhaustively.

Practically, knowledge of God's attributes is for our worship of God. An incomplete knowledge of who He is will only result in incomplete worship and an incomplete perspective of our lives within His dominion. Many are ready to praise the Lord for His goodness while only few will praise Him for His justice. God's love for the world is proclaimed aloud for everyone to hear, while His hatred for sin is proclaimed often softly or angrily. The fact is that we cannot have one attribute without the other. A God with all love, patience, and mercy and no justice would be like the unjust judge who pardons every criminal without hearing the case. Likewise a God with absolute justice, wrath and no love, patience or mercy would have crushed this world under His wrath the minute Adam sinned against Him. When we examine these attributes and how God reveals Himself in His word, it will produce in us a reverential awe for God, the proper perspective of Him, and overwhelming joy at the fact that this Sovereign, all-powerful, merciful God is on our side through Christ.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.              Proverbs 9:10

Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,   but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.”  - Jeremiah 9:23-24

Your Identity in the Fight for Holiness - Kevin DeYoung

This is a quote from Kevin DeYoung's book, "The Hole in Our Holinesss" concerning how the Christian is able to fight sin and pursue holiness by focusing on their new identity in Christ. I found it to be very helpful and hope it helps and encourages you as well.

Second, the gospel aids our pursuit of holiness by telling us the truth about who we are. Certain sins become more difficult when we understand our new position in Christ. If we are heirs to the whole world, why should we envy? If we are God's treasured possession, why be jealous? If God is our Father, why be afraid? If we are dead to sin, why live in it? If we've been raised with Christ, why continue in our old sinful ways? If we are seated in the heavenly places, why act like the devil of hell? If we are loved with an everlasting love, why are we trying to prove our worth to the world? If Christ is all in all, why am I so preoccupied with myself?

                                                              - Kevin DeYoung, "The Hole in Our Holiness", 84

 

 

Writer's Block...

So, I've just about written my brains out for the last several posts and I haven't posted in a while as you can see. I recently started a Tumblr titled "Gospel Prosperity" just to post random pictures and thoughts, but I will begin writing again here shortly...about what, I dunno. If you have any suggestions, ideas or questions, send them...