David, as all leaders, displayed some traits as a leader that were admirable and some very tragic. He was not even aware of this insurrection and treason. Nathan and Bathsheba inform him of the activity of Adonijah (1Kings 1). If there is any aspect of leadership that is paramount it is an awareness of what is taking place among those you lead.

This is also a solid case for the transfer of the mantle of leadership before the ravages of time and age create a scenario such as this.

Far better for the leader and the organization when God appoints and installs new leadership. David showed mercy and grace. Adonijah goes to his house and that house was not the palace and he did not occupy the throne. Some valuable leadership lessons here for the observant servant leader.

What did you learn about leadership by reading 1Kings 1?

Courage is indispensable for both spreading and preserving the truth of Christ. Jesus promised that spreading the gospel would meet resistance: “Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name” (Matthew 24:9). And Paul warned that, even in the church, faithfulness to the truth would be embattled: “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them” (Acts 20:29-30; see also 2 Timothy 4:3-4).

Therefore, true evangelism and true teaching will take courage. Running from resistance in evangelism or teaching dishonors Christ. There is a kind of cowardice that tells only the truths that are safe to tell. Martin Luther put it like this:

If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved, and to be steady on all the battlefield besides is mere flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point. (Quoted in Parker T. Williamson, Standing Firm: Reclaiming Christian Faith in Times of Controversy [Springfield, PA: PLC Publications, 1996], p. 5)

Where then shall we get this courage? Consider these pointers.

FROM BEING FORGIVEN AND BEING RIGHTEOUS - “The wicked flee when no one pursues, but the righteous are bold as a lion” (Proverbs 28:1). “Seeing their faith, Jesus said to the paralytic, ‘Take courage, son; your sins are forgiven’” (Matthew 9:2).

FROM TRUSTING GOD AND HOPING IN HIM - “Be strong and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the LORD” (Psalm 31:24; see also 2 Corinthians 3:12).

FROM BEING FILLED WITH SPIRIT - “They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).

FROM GOD’S PROMISE TO BE WITH YOU - “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9).

FROM KNOWING THAT THE ONE WITH YOU IS GREATER THAN THE ADVERSARY: -”Be strong and courageous . . . for the one with us is greater than the one with him. With him is only an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles” (2 Chronicles 32:7).

FROM BEING SURE THAT GOD IS SOVEREIGN OVER THE BATTLES - “Be strong, and let us show ourselves courageous for the sake of our people and for the cities of our God; and may the LORD do what is good in His sight” (2 Samuel 10:12).

THROUGH PRAYER - “On the day I called, You answered me; You made me bold with strength in my soul” (Psalm 138:3; see also Ephesians 6:19-20).

FROM THE EXAMPLE OF OTHERS - “Most of the brethren, trusting in the Lord because of my imprisonment, have far more courage to speak the word of God without fear” (Philippians 1:14).

Longing to stand firm with you,

Pastor John

(This article was written by John Piper and is acknowledged here with much gratitude – Thank You John)

What did he say and why is it important?

What he said was that the best configuration for a relationship between two persons that has historically been described as “MARRIAGE” should be labeled a ‘Covenant Relationship’. Sounds great. Agree with that. In fact, marriage is recognized as a Covenant Relationship. Nothing new here.

However, that has been the case for centuries. What he did not say, and this is where the lack of Integrity is displayed, he did not identify those eligible according to the Scripture, to participate in such a Covenant. Therefore, applying his profile, two males, two females, a man and his dog, etc. may be eligible for joining together in this covenant. I am sure that this crowd would disagree with this interpretation but if language has meaning (and it does) then they have not a leg stand on.

The CBF was birthed with a fatal pathology at the heart of their assembly. They deny the ABSOLUTE authority of the Scriptures (cf. former President Jimmy Carter who simply says he must disregard the writings of the Apostle Paul on human sexuality – read the interview Dr. Al Mohler did with Mr. Carter.). What? Paul wrote a majority of the New Testament.

Mark it down folks, this issue will fragment CBF into numerous camps, BUT, those who embrace this aberrant and heretical approach to Scripture will cling to their desires – - anybody can do whatever strikes their fancy and they will call it love and compassion. SO SAD!

SOLA SCRIPTURA!!

Christians believe that God has revealed himself clearly in his Word.   Thus, when it comes to key historical questions (Who was Jesus? What did he say? What did he do?) or key theological questions (Who is God? What is Heaven? How does one get there?), Christians believe they have a basis on which they can claim certainty: God’s revelation.  Indeed, to claim we don’t know the truth about such matters would be to deny God, and to deny his Word. (This doesn’t mean, of course, that Christians are certain about everything; but there can be certainty about these basic Christian truths).

Thus, for Christians, humility and uncertainty are not synonymous.   One can be certain and humble at the same time.  How?  For this simple reason: Christians believe that they understand truth only because God has revealed it to them (1 Cor 1:26-30).  In other words, Christians are humble because their understanding of truth is not based on their own intelligence, their own research, their own acumen.  Rather, it is 100% dependent on the grace of God.  Christian knowledge is a dependentknowledge.  And that leads to humility (1 Cor 1:31).  This obviously doesn’t mean all Christians are personally humble.  But, it does mean they should be, and have adequate grounds to be.

John Frame:

Scripture says some negative things about doubt (Matt. 14:31, 21:21,28:17, Acts 10:20, 11:12, Rom. 14:23, Jas. 1:6). In Matt. 14:31 and Rom. 14:23, it is the opposite of faith and therefore a sin. Further, knowing God in Scripture often seems to have a sureness about it. . . . Note especially the “certainty” of Luke 1:4, the “proofs” of Acts 1:3, and the centurion’s words of Luke 23:47. . . . If the revelation of God to which we submit isinfallible, then it must serve as the criterion of all other knowledge. As such it is the standard of certitude and must be regarded as itself in some sense maximally certain.

G. K. Chesteron:

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.

Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . .

The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. (Orthodoxy [reprint, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995], 36-37.)

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Michael Kruger:

Christians believe that God has revealed himself clearly in his Word.   Thus, when it comes to key historical questions (Who was Jesus? What did he say? What did he do?) or key theological questions (Who is God? What is Heaven? How does one get there?), Christians believe they have a basis on which they can claim certainty: God’s revelation.  Indeed, to claim we don’t know the truth about such matters would be to deny God, and to deny his Word. (This doesn’t mean, of course, that Christians are certain about everything; but there can be certainty about these basic Christian truths).

Thus, for Christians, humility and uncertainty are not synonymous.   One can be certain and humble at the same time.  How?  For this simple reason: Christians believe that they understand truth only because God has revealed it to them (1 Cor 1:26-30).  In other words, Christians are humble because their understanding of truth is not based on their own intelligence, their own research, their own acumen.  Rather, it is 100% dependent on the grace of God.  Christian knowledge is a dependentknowledge.  And that leads to humility (1 Cor 1:31).  This obviously doesn’t mean all Christians are personally humble.  But, it does mean they should be, and have adequate grounds to be.

John Frame:

Scripture says some negative things about doubt (Matt. 14:31, 21:21,28:17, Acts 10:20, 11:12, Rom. 14:23, Jas. 1:6). In Matt. 14:31 and Rom. 14:23, it is the opposite of faith and therefore a sin. Further, knowing God in Scripture often seems to have a sureness about it. . . . Note especially the “certainty” of Luke 1:4, the “proofs” of Acts 1:3, and the centurion’s words of Luke 23:47. . . . If the revelation of God to which we submit isinfallible, then it must serve as the criterion of all other knowledge. As such it is the standard of certitude and must be regarded as itself in some sense maximally certain.

G. K. Chesteron:

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.

Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . .

The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. (Orthodoxy [reprint, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995], 36-37.)

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Michael Kruger:

Christians believe that God has revealed himself clearly in his Word.   Thus, when it comes to key historical questions (Who was Jesus? What did he say? What did he do?) or key theological questions (Who is God? What is Heaven? How does one get there?), Christians believe they have a basis on which they can claim certainty: God’s revelation.  Indeed, to claim we don’t know the truth about such matters would be to deny God, and to deny his Word. (This doesn’t mean, of course, that Christians are certain about everything; but there can be certainty about these basic Christian truths).

Thus, for Christians, humility and uncertainty are not synonymous.   One can be certain and humble at the same time.  How?  For this simple reason: Christians believe that they understand truth only because God has revealed it to them (1 Cor 1:26-30).  In other words, Christians are humble because their understanding of truth is not based on their own intelligence, their own research, their own acumen.  Rather, it is 100% dependent on the grace of God.  Christian knowledge is a dependentknowledge.  And that leads to humility (1 Cor 1:31).  This obviously doesn’t mean all Christians are personally humble.  But, it does mean they should be, and have adequate grounds to be.

John Frame:

Scripture says some negative things about doubt (Matt. 14:31, 21:21,28:17, Acts 10:20, 11:12, Rom. 14:23, Jas. 1:6). In Matt. 14:31 and Rom. 14:23, it is the opposite of faith and therefore a sin. Further, knowing God in Scripture often seems to have a sureness about it. . . . Note especially the “certainty” of Luke 1:4, the “proofs” of Acts 1:3, and the centurion’s words of Luke 23:47. . . . If the revelation of God to which we submit isinfallible, then it must serve as the criterion of all other knowledge. As such it is the standard of certitude and must be regarded as itself in some sense maximally certain.

G. K. Chesteron:

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.

Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . .

The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. (Orthodoxy [reprint, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995], 36-37.)

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Michael Kruger:

Christians believe that God has revealed himself clearly in his Word.   Thus, when it comes to key historical questions (Who was Jesus? What did he say? What did he do?) or key theological questions (Who is God? What is Heaven? How does one get there?), Christians believe they have a basis on which they can claim certainty: God’s revelation.  Indeed, to claim we don’t know the truth about such matters would be to deny God, and to deny his Word. (This doesn’t mean, of course, that Christians are certain about everything; but there can be certainty about these basic Christian truths).

Thus, for Christians, humility and uncertainty are not synonymous.   One can be certain and humble at the same time.  How?  For this simple reason: Christians believe that they understand truth only because God has revealed it to them (1 Cor 1:26-30).  In other words, Christians are humble because their understanding of truth is not based on their own intelligence, their own research, their own acumen.  Rather, it is 100% dependent on the grace of God.  Christian knowledge is a dependentknowledge.  And that leads to humility (1 Cor 1:31).  This obviously doesn’t mean all Christians are personally humble.  But, it does mean they should be, and have adequate grounds to be.

John Frame:

Scripture says some negative things about doubt (Matt. 14:31, 21:21,28:17, Acts 10:20, 11:12, Rom. 14:23, Jas. 1:6). In Matt. 14:31 and Rom. 14:23, it is the opposite of faith and therefore a sin. Further, knowing God in Scripture often seems to have a sureness about it. . . . Note especially the “certainty” of Luke 1:4, the “proofs” of Acts 1:3, and the centurion’s words of Luke 23:47. . . . If the revelation of God to which we submit isinfallible, then it must serve as the criterion of all other knowledge. As such it is the standard of certitude and must be regarded as itself in some sense maximally certain.

G. K. Chesteron:

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.

Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . .

The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. (Orthodoxy [reprint, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995], 36-37.)

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Michael Kruger:

Christians believe that God has revealed himself clearly in his Word.   Thus, when it comes to key historical questions (Who was Jesus? What did he say? What did he do?) or key theological questions (Who is God? What is Heaven? How does one get there?), Christians believe they have a basis on which they can claim certainty: God’s revelation.  Indeed, to claim we don’t know the truth about such matters would be to deny God, and to deny his Word. (This doesn’t mean, of course, that Christians are certain about everything; but there can be certainty about these basic Christian truths).

Thus, for Christians, humility and uncertainty are not synonymous.   One can be certain and humble at the same time.  How?  For this simple reason: Christians believe that they understand truth only because God has revealed it to them (1 Cor 1:26-30).  In other words, Christians are humble because their understanding of truth is not based on their own intelligence, their own research, their own acumen.  Rather, it is 100% dependent on the grace of God.  Christian knowledge is a dependentknowledge.  And that leads to humility (1 Cor 1:31).  This obviously doesn’t mean all Christians are personally humble.  But, it does mean they should be, and have adequate grounds to be.

John Frame:

Scripture says some negative things about doubt (Matt. 14:31, 21:21,28:17, Acts 10:20, 11:12, Rom. 14:23, Jas. 1:6). In Matt. 14:31 and Rom. 14:23, it is the opposite of faith and therefore a sin. Further, knowing God in Scripture often seems to have a sureness about it. . . . Note especially the “certainty” of Luke 1:4, the “proofs” of Acts 1:3, and the centurion’s words of Luke 23:47. . . . If the revelation of God to which we submit isinfallible, then it must serve as the criterion of all other knowledge. As such it is the standard of certitude and must be regarded as itself in some sense maximally certain.

G. K. Chesteron:

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.

Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . .

The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. (Orthodoxy [reprint, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995], 36-37.)

SHARE THIS | PRINTABLE VERSION

Michael Kruger:

Christians believe that God has revealed himself clearly in his Word.   Thus, when it comes to key historical questions (Who was Jesus? What did he say? What did he do?) or key theological questions (Who is God? What is Heaven? How does one get there?), Christians believe they have a basis on which they can claim certainty: God’s revelation.  Indeed, to claim we don’t know the truth about such matters would be to deny God, and to deny his Word. (This doesn’t mean, of course, that Christians are certain about everything; but there can be certainty about these basic Christian truths).

Thus, for Christians, humility and uncertainty are not synonymous.   One can be certain and humble at the same time.  How?  For this simple reason: Christians believe that they understand truth only because God has revealed it to them (1 Cor 1:26-30).  In other words, Christians are humble because their understanding of truth is not based on their own intelligence, their own research, their own acumen.  Rather, it is 100% dependent on the grace of God.  Christian knowledge is a dependentknowledge.  And that leads to humility (1 Cor 1:31).  This obviously doesn’t mean all Christians are personally humble.  But, it does mean they should be, and have adequate grounds to be.

John Frame:

Scripture says some negative things about doubt (Matt. 14:31, 21:21,28:17, Acts 10:20, 11:12, Rom. 14:23, Jas. 1:6). In Matt. 14:31 and Rom. 14:23, it is the opposite of faith and therefore a sin. Further, knowing God in Scripture often seems to have a sureness about it. . . . Note especially the “certainty” of Luke 1:4, the “proofs” of Acts 1:3, and the centurion’s words of Luke 23:47. . . . If the revelation of God to which we submit isinfallible, then it must serve as the criterion of all other knowledge. As such it is the standard of certitude and must be regarded as itself in some sense maximally certain.

G. K. Chesteron:

What we suffer from today is humility in the wrong place. Modesty has moved from the organ of ambition. Modesty has settled upon the organ of conviction; where it was never meant to be. A man was meant to be doubtful about himself, but undoubting about the truth; this has been exactly reversed.

Nowadays the part of a man that a man does assert is exactly the part he ought not to assert—himself. The part he doubts is exactly the part he ought not to doubt—the Divine Reason. . . . The new skeptic is so humble that he doubts if he can even learn. . . . There is a real humility typical of our time; but it so happens that it’s practically a more poisonous humility than the wildest prostrations of the ascetic. . . .

The old humility made a man doubtful about his efforts, which might make him work harder. But the new humility makes a man doubtful about his aims, which makes him stop working altogether. . . . We are on the road to producing a race of man too mentally modest to believe in the multiplication table. (Orthodoxy [reprint, San Francisco: Ignatius, 1995]

1. The object toward which one strives or for which something exists; an aim or a goal:

“And ever those, who would enjoyment gain, Must find it in the purpose they pursue” (Sarah Josepha Hale).

2. A result or effect that is intended or desired; an intention.

3. Determination; resolution: He was a man of purpose.

4. The matter at hand; the point at issue. To intend or resolve to perform or accomplish.

Idioms: on purpose – Intentionally; deliberately.

Intentional well define purpose = good results.

Little or no purpose and definition = few or no results.

What role does Purpose play in the Health & Effectiveness of a local church ministry?

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. (Hebrews 13:17, ESV)

Pastor/Elder and people will be held accountable for transformation. The Pastor/Elder(s) is/are accountable for providing the process and resources necessary for transformation to take place. The congregation/people are accountable for being persuaded by the ones leading them and obeying, embracing and applying the resources provided.

**Principle: You cannot measure what you do not first define!

NT Purpose – Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:16-20, ESV)

When a local church embraces this purpose they ipso facto are submitting to the Lordship of Christ. The Scriptures by which Christ is made known to his people become the magna charta for ministry, not tradition, culture or previous practices typically expressed in the often repeated line – - “we have always done it this way”.

Leadership Selection – All persons serving in positions of leadership must meet the biblical profile (Acts 6; 1 Tim. 3 & Titus 1 for Deacons) and (1 Tim. 3 & Titus 1 for Elders). Do those holding such positions where you serve meet this standard?

Levels of Excellence – Our service in the church must meet the expectation expressed in the Shema in the OT (Deut. 6:4-9) and repeated in the NT (Matt. 22:37-40; Mark 12:30-31; Luke 10:27). This is a clear and unambiguous unfolding of both purpose and excellence. This must be the standard for all who name the name of Christ and claim to follow and call him Lord.

Our people know vast portions of God’s word. They can quote it. They can debate other people about what the text says. But they have no idea how it all fits together. (Dr. Al Mohler, He is Not Silent, p. )

The following quote is from a man that is part of the New Covenant page on Facebook that I participate in.

My dad had read the Scriptures all of his adult life. He would quote to me entire chapters of the Bible. In all of my years in Christ I have yet to meet the person who could quote more scripture than my dad. Because he knew the Bible dad understood what was right and what was wrong to please or displease God. He lived a good moral life. He was a good father, husband and provider. He went to church and he brought his wife and seven kids to church. Everyone who knew him considered him to be a good man. I never heard him speak vulgar or use God’s name in vain. As I said, my dad read the Scriptures all of his adult life. He honestly believed he would be accepted by God because he lived a good life. But God didn’t reveal himself to my Dad until he was on his death bed and only then did all of his Bible reading open to him. At last he had learned of Christ. He was washed and cleansed and his guilt removed by the power of God. His sins were forgiven. The Spirit of God filled him with love for our heavenly Father and his Son. Dad is now in the arms of Jesus.

It is one thing to read of God’s love and his requirements and it is quite another thing to know God’s love in the inner man and to obey Him with loving obedience born out of the new heart.

1 John 2:20 But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge.

1 Corinthians 2:14 The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.

Summary:

Scripture is designed to bring information, encouragement, equipping and transformation to God’s people. Transformation in Rom. 12:2 is a present passive imperative.

The following verses that make up this pericope (Rom. 12:1-8) make it clear that transformation is a reality that is accomplished primarily if not exclusively through our submission to and participation in ‘body life’ (cf. Bonhoeffer, Life Together).

When people do not know or have not embraced the purpose inherent and at the heart of the Great Commission they produce little or nothing of God’s intent for the church and they produce misery and discouragement for their shepherd.

Tragically it is my studied and well informed perspective based on 20+ years of wide exposure to hundreds/thousands of churches in America that these people are tragically and probably unregenerate.

They have not embraced the purpose.

They do not have a functional, measurable objective definition of a disciple. That being the case they have no metric to measure their transformation or lack of same because having one would shine the light of Truth on their real spiritual condition. No TRANSFORMATION means no REGENERATION. When a Pastor/Elder seeks to incorporate these essentials in ministry he is most often ‘thrown under the bus’ – - FIRED!

If he is a Faithful Shepherd, he must nevertheless honor God’s Word and do what God, not the people call him to do. (cf. John 6 – Jesus reduced the crowd from 5,000 to 12!)

I am now on that bonus portion. Today I used one of the first books I purchased for OT Survey at Cedarville – - an ASV 1901 Bible. The spine is beginning to crumble. I got out a role of Library Tape and ‘patched’ it back to wholeness (sorta). Just like my body (Cancer, Vitamin D, chrondroiton for the creaky joints, etc.) age is showing.

I am very thankful for what is in those years. Painful, sometimes very very long and spiritually dry, but always packed with Wisdom if you are listening and ready to learn and grow in grace. And, when the springs of God’s freshness immerse you in His goodness all the sadness and arid dry times are gone!

My heirs will inherit the library (some 4,000 volumes). As my friend Kevin DeYoung says of them, old books are like old friends. I have a navy buddy, he lives in Tampa FL and we talk every day via cell phone. We have been friends for 53 years. What a cherished and valuable person. I was in his wedding. Our children swam in his pool with his. He and his wife visit Peggy & I when they travel.

So cherish those old friends and the old books as well. The binding wears out just like ours but the TRUTH they provide is timeless. God likes old – cf. Lev. 19:32. If He is OK with the wrinkles I surely am!

Having said that, I agonize over the issues of greater significance that the SBC REFUSES to address. Some of these are:

#1 – Truth telling about the true number of members (16.3 million claimed – - but on the best Sunday of the year there are not 7 million people gathered to worship).

#2 – The causal issues behind that attendance gap. This is driven by a seriously flawed doctrine of Soteriology. People are swept into membership that are simply not redeemed as evidenced by the total absence of progressive sanctification.

#3 – An almost paranoid focus on giving to the Cooperative Program. Failure to give is another indicator of people who are not submitted to the Lordship of Christ. Change the hearts and the contributions will rise dramatically.

#4 – An unrelenting refusal to embrace a Metric for effective ministry that measures transformation rather than mere activity.

So, we can “Dilly Dally” and change the name, % given to this program or that but until the Sovereign of the Ages brings us face to face with our sin, we repent and humble ourselves – - the name change will be just more “Dilly Dally”. I welcome your responses to these thoughts.