Election and Evangelism

Does Predestination Mean We Don’t Need To Evangelize?

No, it just guarantees the outcome.

Forgive me if this blog raises your blood pressure. It’s just that I’ve heard the misconception that election eliminates the need for evangelism often enough that I wanted to take a shot at explaining why that's not the case. Here goes.

First of all, God is sovereign. That means He runs the whole show. He knows everything, and He can do anything He wants. He created everything, and He controls it all. From the stoutest galaxy down to the scrawniest subatomic particle, God is in charge. He numbers the stars, and He knows how many hairs you have (or used to have) on your head. He dictates the rise and fall of nations, and He knows our thoughts before we can speak them. He comfortably manages everything that happens in the universe, including our salvation from the wrath that we deserve, thanks to the big fat sin problem we inherited from Adam.

Secondly, God is good. That means that when He does whatever He wants, it is good. Our salvation doesn’t depend on our good works. God saves us by grace, through faith (Ephesians 2:8), according to His will. For those who are called according to His purpose, all things work for good (Romans 8:28).

Thirdly, God predestines His elect. That means that God decides who He will save, according to His own good pleasure. Shucks, He even chooses them before they exist (Ephesians 1:4). Figure that one out. He has His good reasons, probably just because He can. Remember, He's totally in control. Those who He predestines, He calls, and those who He calls, He justifies, and those who He justifies, He glorifies (Romans 8:28). When people get agitated over predestination and election, I remind them that God is good, and He does what He wants. They can read Romans Chapter 9, and then take their dill pickle expressions directly to God.

Fourthly, God commands us to evangelize. That means we are to spread the gospel and make disciples everywhere, in obedience to the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 15:16). It’s not our job to persuade anyone into God’s kingdom, as if our methods close the deal. That's for brush salesmen, not evangelists. It is God’s Spirit who effectually calls sinners to saving faith. Yet, God includes us in the evangelism loop, even though He decides in advance who He will save. We don’t know who these people are, but since He has predestined them to be saved, our efforts to preach the gospel are guaranteed to be fruitful.

In conclusion, we should be zealous to preach the gospel and make disciples. God has promised that His Word that goes out will not return to Him empty, but will accomplish His purpose (Isaiah 55:11). Our message of hope will be like a monsoon rain falling on a parched field, bringing new life and growth.

In the book of Romans, the Apostle Paul writes, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news! (Romans 10:14-15).

Hey, God's elect, why not take a few bold steps with those fabulous feet of yours and spread the good news that Jesus saves sinners? As you do, pray for the Lord to send out more laborers into His harvest.

Ship Shape Salvation

Biblical Ignorance
The Bible says that “my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). This is certainly true today, when a meager 9% of those who call themselves “born again Christians” actually hold a Biblical worldview.

According to commentator, Chuck Colson, Christians don’t really know what they believe. It seems that sentimental slogans have replaced doctrinal knowledge. Many church-goers can recite bumper sticker sound bites like, “Let go and let God,” or “God said it, I believe it, that settles it,” but they can’t accurately explain what salvation is, or what justification means.

In ancient Israel, the priests failed to declare God’s scriptures to the people. They were sell-outs, idolaters, and religious adulterers. Thus, God judged and punished the entire nation. Such folk are active in the church today. They have blended materialism, individualism and multiculturalism into spiritual smoothies for consumers to slurp up. Their Sunday sermons depict Jesus as an inspiring example of a purpose driven life. A role model for overcoming obstacles. A ticket to the good life. They may sing “Jesus take the wheel,” but they’re still holding on for control and they want to operate the brakes and the accelerator.

Truth be told, many of us want Jesus on our own terms. Often, when we say “God has a wonderful plan for my life,” we really mean, “I have a wonderful plan for God in my life.” This is a man-centered view of faith. Some have called it therapeutic, moralistic deism, as if a distant god wants us to be our best, but lets us work out the details. We treat Jesus like a personal trainer. He might coach us, but it’s up to us to do the workouts. And once we master the program, we think we’ve outgrown the coach. Jesus becomes optional. The scriptures, however, present a thoroughly God-centered worldview. It’s really not about us.

The Good Ship Faith
Picture yourself floating out in the middle of the ocean. You are dead. A bloated carcass tossed by the waves, oblivious to your condition. Then God, by His sovereign mercy, brings you to life. You realize your predicament. You are lost and alone. Struggling. Perishing. The waves will soon swallow you up.

Now picture a ship on the horizon sailing directly toward you. You cry out to be saved. The Good Ship Faith arrives, its fluttering ensign a crimson cross. A sailor throws out a lifeline and commands you to grasp it. You hold fast and are hoisted aboard. You are soon dried and clothed and cared for.

In time you are instructed in the ways of sailing. The Good Ship Faith, under the orders of her Commander In Chief, Jesus, is commissioned to patrol the oceans, engage enemies of the Kingdom, and rescue those adrift in the ocean. You are adopted as a member of the crew and equipped for duty. You are grateful for your salvation, and you are eager to serve in the ship’s ongoing mission. You delight to recount the story of your rescue: You were dead, but were brought to life. You were saved by orders of Christ. Now you throw life lines to those who are perishing.

As a teaching Elder at Coram Deo Church I have used this illustration to emphasize the theological fact that salvation in Christ is ...

By Grace
Through Faith
From God’s Wrath
For good Works
For God’s Glory

By Grace – Grace refers to God’s divine and unconditional favor, freely given. We are spiritually dead, unable to seek or choose God. Yet He chooses to save us, not according to our deeds, but according to His own sovereign purposes. He gives us new life, enabling us to recognize our sin nature and our perilous condition. Our regeneration is therefore an entirely supernatural act of God’s Spirit. We are passive. God is active.

Through Faith – Faith is not a desire, or wishful thought. It is the exercise of trust in someone or something. Faith enables us to repent (turn from trusting ourselves) and to trust Christ to save us. God has ordained that faith comes by hearing, and hearing the word of Christ. Our regenerated hearts and minds respond to the gospel, which is a summons to take the life line, to receive salvation. Apart from the work of the Holy Spirit we will remain spiritually dead. We cannot and will not respond to the gospel and trust Christ. The gospel is foolishness to us. To our peril, we choose to trust ourselves rather than Christ, like a drowning man refusing to be saved because he rejects the rescuer.

From God’s Wrath - We should tremble with fear as guilty sinners before a just and holy God. God has decreed that the penalty of sin is death. He has established hell as a place of eternal torment. Fortunately, God demonstrates His great love for us by allowing His Son’s crucifixion to fully satisfy His righteous requirements for punishing sin. Jesus received God’s wrath in our place. Those who refuse Christ as Savior bear the full weight of their guilt and will be cast into hell.

For Good Works - Our salvation is more than being spared from punishment. We are justified (legal requirements fully satisfied) and adopted into God’s household of faith. We are converted and transformed into Christ’s likeness by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, who gives us gifts for righteousness in service to God and for the building up of His church. Good works are the result and the evidence of saving faith in us. The absence of good works is evidence that we are spiritually dead and do not have the Holy Spirit living in us.

For God’s Glory - God receives the glory for our salvation. It can be said that we contribute nothing to our salvation, but respond to it with joy and praise. We have not earned or deserved what we have received. We are chosen, justified, sanctified and glorified--all for God’s glory. While we certainly participate with the Holy Spirit in our sanctifying walk, we ultimately persevere in our faith by God’s superintending power and grace.

Conclusion
The solution to Biblical ignorance is to gain Biblical knowledge and wisdom. The Lord gave us His Word to bless us and direct us. By the power of His Spirit, the Scriptures illuminate and transform our minds, enabling us to be holy and blameless before Him (Ephesians 1:4). May you delight in God's Word, and obey it as you sail through this life and into the next on the Good Ship Faith.

Pagan Christianity? A Book Review

by Pastor John Sleadd

I recently read Pagan Christianity?, by Frank Viola and George Barna, which explores the roots of our church practices. The authors claim that, according to credible historic research, the majority of what takes place in today’s institutional church can be linked to Roman and Greek pagan traditions. They assert the following, and more.

That Emperor Constantine transformed Christianity into a state religion and instituted sacred sites, sacred rituals and sacred officers to unify and control his empire.

That church buildings evolved from pagan religious shrines

That preachers evolved from Greek sophists, who were gifted, yet often unscrupulous, orators

That pulpits evolved from Greek stagecraft used for entertainment

That salaried pastors evolved from pensioned, Roman government officials

That church music practices evolved from Roman pagan customs of pomp and formality

I confess that I found Pagan Christianity? a fascinating read. In it Viola and Barna criticize the authoritarian, high church system of clergy, costumes, customs and cathedrals. They say this system puts a few men in charge of lifeless congregations. They are equally critical of the pop culture, consumer system, which keeps the religious customers entertained in auditoriums with celebrity speakers, professional praise bands, and youth ministers who widen the generation gap. A return to the old ways is needed, they say. Out with professionalism and institutionalism. In with relationships and organic community. Back to the habits of the early church at the ground level, where believers met in equality and simplicity.

Viola and Barna are sincerely concerned for the health of the Lord’s church. I found many, perhaps most of their arguments to be persuasive. Their historic evidence was compelling. I would therefore recommend this book to anyone who is interested in church history and practice. I would, however, offer a few words of caution.

Viola and Barna seem to disregard legitimate authority and hierarchy in the body of Christ. They advocate an “every-member functioning” model of church meeting, and they rightly condemn the practice of professional clergymen dominating over a passive laity. Yet, in their disdain for abusive authoritarianism in the church, I believe they have overreacted and thrown the baby out with the bath water. Allow me to explain.

I believe the authors have ignored the hierarchy that exists within the Trinity and in God’s ordained institutions of family, church and state. In the Trinity, the Holy Spirit plays a supporting role to the Son, and the Son plays a submissive role to the Father, yet they are one and they are equally God. In the family the husband is the head of the wife, and the wife is commanded to submit to her husband, yet they are part of a one-flesh union (Ephesians 5:22-23). Together, they have authority over their children, who are commanded to honor and obey their parents (Ephesians 6:1). In the church the Elders are given the authority and responsibility to rule (1 Timothy 5:17), and church members are commanded to obey and submit to them (Hebrews 13:17). Yet the Elders are told to govern with gentleness and humility, predominantly through the power of example (1 Peter 5:2-3). In the state, we see evidence of hierarchy as well. The ancient Hebrew republic had a hierarchy of military commanders and judges to lead the Jewish nation. Furthermore, a hierarchical chain of command is an essential part of our United States constitutional republic today. It can be said that hierarchical authority is both biblical and essential for right conduct in human interactions.

There are other troubling issues that bubble up from the pages of Pagan Christianity? The authors assume that all church members have equal privileges to share, to lead, and to teach, during each meeting, but this is in conflict with what the scriptures teach about the distribution of spiritual gifts and about church leadership. In their criticism of church liturgical practices, they imply that spontaneous sharing is more biblical than preplanned worship services that are directed by select individuals. This begs the question why the Holy Spirit cannot work through preplanning just as well as spontaneity, and through the specialization of gifts as well as through every member. Such things reveal a personal bias that taints an otherwise timely call to reformation of church practice.

I agree with Viola and Barna that every member of the Body of Christ should be fully functioning and contributing. But we must steer clear of the tendency to democratize the church into an egalitarian social construct. My prayer is that the Lord would continue to bless and refine His church, according to His perfect will and purpose. I recommend you read Pagan Christianity? for yourself and enjoy interacting with it as I did.

He Is Risen. He Saves.

Much hangs on the truth of Christ’s resurrection. No resurrection, no victory over sin and death. No resurrection, no certainty that God’s Word is true. No resurrection, no Lord Jesus mediating from the throne room of the Father on behalf of sinners. Like me.

The apostle Paul wrote that if Christ has not been raised from the dead, then our faith is futile and we are still in our sins. If we hope in Christ only in this life only, then we are to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:12-19).

Fortunately, Christ has been raised from the dead. The resurrection is an historical fact. The empty tomb was solid evidence of His resurrection in the days and years following Christ’s public execution. Jesus’ appearance to a multitude of eyewitnesses in the weeks after his certified death are irrefutable. The conspiracy theories of body snatching, or mass hallucinations are flimsy concoctions of fiction, which have no credibility in light of the data.

Death could not keep Jesus in the grave. The Lord of creation, who has made all things and sustains all things, demonstrated His sovereignty over death itself. He was summoned to life. He lives. He reigns. And this is good news for us.

Jesus’ resurrection confirms His power to save us. He summons His elect into new life by the regenerative power of His Spirit. Thus, one can be born again.

The Bible says that all have sinned and offended God (Romans. 3:23). It says that we suppress the evidence of God and deny His authority over creation. It describes mankind as law breakers and rebels.

The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). God cannot tolerate sin and His holy character requires that sin be punished. He has created hell, a place of unquenchable fire, and eternal suffering reserved for those who hate Him and reject Jesus, His Son.

But here’s the good news: The Bible says that God shows His great love for us, in that while we were sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).

We are saved by God’s grace, not by our own works (Ephesians 2:8). We cannot say we have earned salvation. It is a gift.

We have a place in heaven. God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:16). If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved (Romans 10:9).

Jesus came to save His people. Are you one of them? Have you trusted Jesus?

The Infamy of Rousseau's Selfish Socialism

I decided to write my third letter to the editor of our local newspaper. After the last letter, I received four public commendations and two criticisms. One writer said that I should go back to my pulpit and get a life.

I expect to be attacked in print. I write to inform and provoke. I also hope to stimulate Christians to rise up and challenge the culture. Here's my latest contribution to the cultural conversation.

Jean Jacques Rousseau was an eighteenth-century, French philosopher with a penchant for siring and abandoning children. Five of them. Rousseau was a dead-beat dad with a disdain for paternal duty. He championed the cause of self-love and personal entitlement.

Rousseau denounced civilization, social conventions, and traditional values. He believed the state was the perfect agent to liberate the individual from such oppressive relationships as marriage, family, church and work. He claimed that each citizen would then be completely independent of all his fellow men, and absolutely dependent on the state.

As an Enlightenment thinker, he postulated theories of socialism and nationalism, which inspired Robespierre in the French Revolution, as well as Marx, Lenin, Mussolini, Hitler, Mao and even Pol Pot. Curious, isn’t it, how the seeds of radical individualism and entitlement can produce a crop of totalitarianism.

Unfortunately, Rousseau’s theories are alive and well in America today. Perhaps that’s why we have no-fault divorce, same-sex unions, and abortion on demand, all supported by our government. Maybe that’s why a U.S. court ruled that parents have no exclusive right to teach their children about sex education, but must permit the state to teach them the legitimacy of homosexuality. Maybe that’s why a California court recently declared that home education is illegal unless the parents have a state-issued teaching license.

Statesman Edmund Burke reportedly said, “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” Men of conscience, I adjure you to take action. Pray, speak, write.

Pastor John Sleadd
Coram Deo Church

Return to the City of My Second Birth

On Thursday, February 28, 2008 I drove up to Bellingham Washington for a quick, nostalgic visit. I was in the north part of Seattle with some extra time on my hands, when on a lark I decided to zip up to my college alma mater, Western Washington University, for a blast from the past.

A quarter century earlier I had been an art and music student there at the beautiful campus perched above Bellingham Bay. It was at WWU that I brushed wild colors across stretched canvases in the art studio to the smell of oil paints and mineral spirits. It was there that I spent endless hours shut up in windowless practice rooms as a music student fingering scales and jazz riffs on my guitar. It was in this town that I played and sang in smoky night clubs filled with the rank smell of cheap beer. It was there that I watched the movie Elephant Man and was embarrassed by the overwhelming sense of pity that made me sob in front of my friends as if I had just seen my own pathetic spiritual condition exposed in front of a shocked audience.

It was there, twenty-five years ago, that I first suspected a sovereign God existed behind the canopy of stars, who might call me to account for who I was and what I thought and what I did. I was a Kentucky boy, the casualty of a broken home, who had wound up in the Pacific Northwest to chase after his life's purpose at a university. It was in Bellingham that I was yanked out of my atheistic existentialism and summoned into the Kingdom of God like a hapless islander who gets swept out of his village by the surge of a tsunami, then deposited back into a pile of debris that was his former life. There wasn't much worth salvaging, so I began a new life, trusting in Christ.

I had lived in Bellingham for six years. I had rented various apartments, dated various girls, been indoctrinated by various professors, and partied with various acquaintances. The kingdom of God had sent most of my friends packing. At the name of Jesus, they had grown suspicious and distant, like I was the Elephant Man, the freak of faith. Eventually we parted company, which left me with time on my own to soak up the words of C.S. Lewis, R.C. Sproul and Josh MacDowell, to name a few, who wrote about a God who redeems sinners. Like me.

I read the Bible, too, starting the with John's gospel, which introduced me to Christ, the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the Resurrection and the Life.

Back in the present, I walked across campus observing students bustling from class to class. They seemed driven by academic purpose, yet adrift in the relativistic culture of higher education with no sense of God’s superintending presence.

I began to pray. I asked God to call His elect out of the darkness as He had called me back in 1983. I prayed for dozens, perhaps a hundred individuals, asking the Lord to pour out His Spirit on the students. I circled back across the campus and aimed at every soul that came in sight, praying that God would redeem sinners and transform them into future husbands and wives and parents of faith, who would bring Him glory.

I entered the music building, where I had sung in the university choir as a cynical atheist, and I sang a hymn aloud in the elevator. I went into the Viking Union student center and asked the Lord to give me the opportunity to witness to at least four people on campus before I left. In my folder I had four spiritual survey sheets that I had developed for sharing the gospel.

For the next two hours I sipped Starbuck’s coffee and interviewed four students. I asked a dozen different questions. I explained the problem of sin and the good news of salvation in Christ alone. I left each of them with this thought to ponder: “Is it possible that God is calling you to believe in Jesus to save you from punishment? “ Two answered “yes,” one answered “no,” and one answered “not sure.” One young man said he thought that if God was calling him, He would probably do it by sending him a dream, or a vision, or something unusual. I asked him if it were possible that God might send a stranger from out of town (me) as a divine appointment to talk to him about faith. He might still be thinking about that.

After I had interviewed the students, I asked them about their majors, their interests, their goals in life. They, in turn, asked me why I was out interviewing people. I got to share my testimony of how I had been a student at WWU twenty-five years ago when God called me out of darkness and into light. He had chosen me for His own, even though I had mocked believers and claimed Christianity was a crutch for the weak-minded. God had allowed me to marry a wonderful Christian woman and start a Christian family. Now, as a father of five children and the pastor of a great church, it was a privilege to return to WWU to speak with others about God's amazing grace. I gave each of them a business card with my email address, along with a reference to Ephesians 1:4.

Now that I’m back at home in Grants Pass, Oregon, my trip to Bellingham seems like a dream. It was a wonderful little side trip from my commitments in Seattle. Since I may not be back for another twenty-five years, I will relish the dose of nostalgia. And I will pray: Lord, send your tsunami again into the city of my second birth.

The Scriptures are Supernatural, Sure and Sufficient

Disciple Makers Basic Training: Week 5

Q: What Is In The Bible?

A: God has given His Scriptures as the highest standard of truth and authority for all of life. The Bible teaches what man is to believe about God and what God requires of man.

God and His Word are inseparable. He designed it that way for our benefit. To know God is to know His Word, and to love Him is to obey His commands. The Bible tells us to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16), yet many of us neither know, or obey it.

Imagine a young woman who doesn’t read her fiancée’s letters. We would question her love. Imagine a soldier who doesn’t obey his commander’s orders. We would question his loyalty. What, then, are we to make of those who claim to follow Christ, but who show no love for His Word, nor trouble themselves to obey it? Do they merely honor Him with their mouths while their hearts are far from Him? (Matthew 15:8).

The Power of the Scriptures
The Bible is powerful and effective, sure and sufficient, life-giving and eternal.
· Matthew 4:4 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.
· Matthew 24:35 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
· Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
· 2 Timothy 3:16-17 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.

The Authority and Divine Nature of Scripture
Jesus regarded the Scriptures as authoritative.
The Bible is self-attesting. It declares itself to be the authoritative Word of God.
The Bible records hundreds of supernaturally fulfilled prophecies.
The Bible records supernatural events (mass feedings, healings and resurrections), which were observed by multiple eye witnesses.
The Bible accurately portrays man’s true spiritual condition. It is a book that reads the reader.
The Bible has transformed the lives of many who read it.
The Bible has survived attempts to destroy it throughout history.

The Bible evidences itself to be God's Word by the heavenliness of its doctrine, the unity of its parts, and its power to convert sinners and to edify saints. But only the Spirit of God can make us willing to agree and submit to the Bible as the Word of God. (answer to question #5 of the The Baptist Catechism, 1689)

(see 1 Corinthians 2:6-7,13-16; Psalm 19:7-9; 119:18,129; Acts 10:43; 26:22; 18:28; Hebrews 4:12; Romans 15:4; John 16:13,14; 1 John 2:20-27; 2 Corinthians 3:14-17; 4:4, 6.)

The Contents of the Scriptures
The Bible is comprised of the 39 Old Testament Books and 27 New Testaments Books. It can be divided into the following categories.

Old Testament
1. history of creation and God’s people
2. Laws of God
3. psalms and proverbs
4. prophecies of God

New Testament
5. gospels of Jesus
6. acts of the apostles
6. letters to churches
7. revelation

The Canon of Scripture
The historic Christian belief is that the Holy Spirit who inspired the writing of the books also controlled their selection. The final canon of Scripture is therefore the result of God’s sovereign intervening in the discernment of believers rather than by historical research .

· 1 Corinthains 2:13 This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words.
· 1 Thessalonians 2:13 And we also thank God continually because, when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men, but as it actually is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe.

Four basic considerations have guided the church in recognizing the canon (measuring rod) of Scripture.
1. Apostolicity – Was the book written by an apostle?
2. Apostolic content – Was the content of the book consistent with the ministry and purpose of an apostle?
3. Claim of divine inspiration – Did the author claim that his words were from God?
4. Acceptance as divine – Did the early churches recognize the author and/or writings as from God?

The Doctrines of Scripture
The Bible is God’s special revelation of Himself and of His sovereign plan to save His elect through the atoning work of Christ Jesus. The Bible reveals the sequence of creation, fall, redemption and glorification for those whom God brings to saving faith in Christ. The major themes of the Bible can be categorized into the following doctrines.

1. The doctrine of the Word of God (inspired, inerrant, authoritative, sufficient)
2. The doctrine of God (sovereign, self-existent, almighty, holy, Trinitarian)
3. The doctrine of man (God’s image bearer, yet spiritually dead & sinful by nature)
4. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit (personal, sanctifying)
5. The doctrine of redemption (election by grace, effectual calling, justification, adoption, sanctification, preservation, glorification)
6. The doctrine of the church (unity and purity, purposes, ordinances, presence in the world)
7. The doctrine of the future (return of Christ, final judgment, new heaven and earth)

Abuse of the Scriptures
This might sound strange, but some people love the Bible too much. That is, they are drawn to its texts, but they are distant from the Author. The tendency to focus on the process of textual transmission and interpretation based on human reasoning can be a form of bibliolatry (book worship) if the texts are divorced from God’s character and will. The theological liberalism of higher textual criticism, which developed in Europe after the Enlightenment, pitted man’s interpretive powers of reason against God’s sovereign ability to transmit His Word through men. Clearly we are not to treat the holy Scriptures with academic detachment. Nor are we to twist the Word of God to make it conform to the plans of man.

As I said at the beginning of this essay, God and His Word are inseparable. And He has chosen to reveal Himself to us and minister to us through His holy Scriptures. Let us draw near to God by reading and meditating upon His Word. Let us love Him with all our heart, and soul, and mind and strength, as we walk in obedience to all that He has commanded, by the power of His Spirit for the glory of Christ.

Follow Up Assignment

Read Greg Koukl’s article, Never Read A Bible Verse http://www.str.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5466