31 Reasons to Study Biblical Hermeneutics

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Tags: Baptist Bible Bible Study church doctrine
  1. So you don’t become a heretic
    1. So you aren’t dependent on a preacher somewhere to tell you what the Bible says
    2. So we can know Jesus – “You search the scriptures (OT) because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life.”; Luke 24:27; Luke 24:44-45
    3. So we can see Christophanies in the OT
    4. To understand typology
    5. To unite under Christ’s banner
    6. To sit on daddy’s lap and hear his story
    7. To know right doctrine – to rightly divide the word of truth – 2 Tim 2:15
    8. To discern false teachers
    9. To see the unity of the scriptures — the scarlet thread (Props to the late W. A. Criswell)
    10. So we don’t take passages out of context
    11. Exegesis not Eisegesis
    12. To test the words of preachers and prophets against the word
    13. To apply it to our lives and be doers, not just hearers – 1.) to hear 2.) to know HOW to apply
    14. So you don’t “moralize” scripture — and miss the point altogether — It is God’s autobiography — the “Revelation of Jesus Christ” as John put it.
    15. So we can know that the Bible is utterly different than any other book — and deserves further study
    16. To “be Berean” and search the scriptures Daily to find if the things they said are true (Acts 17)
    17. To understand that the Old and New Testaments Go Together!!! (Don’t just study the NT!)
    18. Because scripture is glorious
    19. So you can study the Bible for yourself
    20. To Read the Bible for All Its Worth
    21. To Crave Spiritual Milk – 1 Peter 2:2
    22. To Understand History better
    23. To Broaden your Horizons
    24. To Walk with God
    25. To understand the difference between Deductive and Inductive Bible Study techniques
    26. To Study Inductively (not deductively!)
    27. To Apply Deductively
    28. Because “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” – 2 Timothy 3:16-17
    29. Because “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” – Proverbs 1:7
    30. It’s cool

And there are many more…

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On House Churches

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Tags: church

I think house churches can sometimes be much better than your local 501©3 church with a name and a building and a web site. Those things are nice to have, but a small group of people studying the word, keeping one another accountable, fellowshipping, and exhorting one another to live godly lives can (possibly) be a better church.

It could go either way, I guess, depending on the group dynamics.

At your “normal” church, it’s pretty easy to get into the thick of “ministry” — being busy and getting little to nothing done — but miss out on some of the best parts of being a church. Sharing your joys and struggles with other Christians is one of the greatest benefits of the church community.

And that’s just it — in a “regular” church with services and bulletins and preachers and music ministers — it’s really easy to go through the motions and be “religious” without having a relationship with Christ or other believers. It’s the community of believers that make the church so great.

I must confess, when I was growing up I didn’t like the church. I thought it was dumb because everybody fought all the time about stupid stuff. I thought we should all be knocking on doors, sharing the gospel so that Christ could return sooner (He said he wouldn’t return until every tribe, tongue, people, and nation heard the gospel).

I didn’t get it, but I think I’m starting to now.

Church is so many things. It is a means by which to sanctify one another in the word. It’s a place of encouragement when life’s tough. It’s boot camp for spiritual warfare. It’s home. It’s family. It’s the body of Christ.

Don’t get me wrong — I love gorgeous church buildings and churches-with-official-names. I’m a Southern Baptist. I like the weekly services and the off-key singing. I like deacons and elders and business meetings. I like Sunday School and Big-Church.

But if you’re just going to church, absorbing, and leaving… you’re missing a LOT. We need to invest time, effort, and love in other Christians’ lives.

House churches can do this. So can institutional churches.

But you don’t need a building… or a name… or Sunday services to be a church. You just need other Christians.

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Church isn’t a building. It’s a people.

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Tags: Baptist Bible Bible Study church

The church is not a government recognized 501©3 non-profit organization. It’s not a name. It’s not Baptist. It’s not something tangible like an apple. The church is a group of people with a common faith.

The church is based on the firm foundation (Matthew 16:18) that Jesus Christ is part of the triune God – the Messiah foretold in the Old Testament. We know that as a Holy and Just God, He must punish sin and that we fully deserve to go to Hell for our sinful actions. In his mercy, Jesus, who is both fully God and fully man, lived a sinless life, fulfilled the law that we could not, was killed as a substitution for the just punishment of our sin, was raised 3 days later, ascended into heaven, and if we put our faith and trust in Him – that He will save us and raise us up also from the grave to live with him in heaven for all eternity. Salvation is by grace alone – through faith alone – in Christ alone – who we learn about through the scriptures alone – to the glory of God alone.

The Church is based on Jesus Christ, the Messiah. We rally around this point. This unites all of us (Ephesians 4:4-6).

In our essentials, we have Unity.

In our non-essentials, we have Liberty.

In all things, we must have Charity.

We may not go to the same building, but you’re still part of my church.

We may not hear the same sermons, but we’re still the body of Christ.

We may not sing the same songs, but they’re joyful either way.

We may not sit in the same classroom, but we need you anyway.

We may not see you every week, but we still think about you every day.

God refers to the church as the body of Christ in several places in the New Testament and it is especially clear in 1 Corinthians 12. If we’re all members of the body of Christ (those of us who have Faith in Christ alone), when we fight or sin against one another – we’re breaking our own bones, setting snares for our own feet, intentionally tripping ourselves so we fall, or punching ourselves in the face.

Our local church has just gone through a split. One group went one way. The other went another way. I didn’t feel it was my place to choose a side.

To those who left – I love you all. I miss you. You will always be part of my church – just like those we love from all our past local churches. We will be reunited some day… after the broken bones have been set, the bruises have healed, and the snares have been removed.

To those who stayed – let’s unite around the essentials of our faith. Let’s unite around Christ and his Word. Let’s get back to making Jesus’ name famous and giving Him all the glory.

To anyone else who may read this – Please don’t take any church splits as evidence against the truth of Christianity. If anything, it’s more evidence for its truth. It just goes to show that we’re all sinful people in need of a savior. We won’t be perfect on this side of heaven. Christ did the hard part. All you have to do is put your faith and trust in Him. He does the saving.

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Sacrificing the Shepherd on the Altar

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Tags: Baptist church

Those (insert explicative here) Baptists! They can’t seem to play nice with each other. Every few years a big stink happens in the church and they split. Why is that?

Why do we sacrifice the shepherd on the altar whenever the congregation sins? Now this is not to say that the pastor is free of wrongdoing. In our situation, I believe that all sides were at fault. The blame was shared and there was no “winner” or “loser.” We all lost on this one.

The good news with our church, though, is that nobody outside our walls knows that we exist, so we won’t be dragging Jesus’ name through the mud as far as the community goes. The problem with that is we haven’t been effective in our ministry for some time.

We haven’t been effective in our love for each other.

We haven’t been effective in our prayer lives.

We haven’t been effective in caring for the community.

We haven’t been effective in confronting sin in our own lives.

We’ve got to be careful not to slap somebody in the face with the plank in our own eye when we’re trying to get the speck out of theirs.

FBC Hebron has been trying to “keep going” for too long. Status quo isn’t good enough. FBCH needs to change from the inside out. The hearts of the people (all the people, myself included) and the vision of where the church is headed needs to change.

We had our 125th anniversary a couple years ago and all I heard was talk of the past, which was what we were celebrating. It’s great to talk about rich church history of FBCH, but nobody talked about the next 125 years. It broke my heart.

After yesterday’s business meeting, my heart is not only broken, but it may have stopped. The meeting was horrendous. With the blatant disregard for leadership, the mass chaos that ensued with people yelling at one another — all the while claiming that God is not the author or confusion, but of peace — God was not the author of that business meeting.

I think all sides need to repent. I think we all need to come together for some prayer and fasting.

I don’t think we should sacrifice the shepherd on the alter. Jesus, the spotless lamb was already sacrificed for us. Let’s not loose sight of that and let’s not lose sight of the real enemy — Sin.

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Family Driven Faith

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Tags: Bible Bible Study books church

My sister and her family gave me a Barnes and Noble gift card for my birthday, so I bought a variety of eBooks for my iPod Touch. While I haven’t been thrilled with the stability of the nook app (and it has gotten better with the two updates they’ve made), I’m loving the eBooks I got.

I’m only in chapter two, but “Family Driven Faith” by Voddie Baucham is a must read for every youth pastor and every parent. It’s honest, witty, and challenging.

Go get it now.

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