Sermon Video Clip - Voddie Baucham

I love this clip from Voddie Baucham about God's sovereignty in the world. It is very powerful.





By the way. I am sorry I have not posted in a while. I have been very busy. I will try to post my next post on "The Word Became Flesh" by next week.

The Word Became Flesh Part 1

John 1:1-5; 14: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.

What is the greatest miracle? It is an intriguing question. When Jesus lived on this earth, He performed many miracles. From healing the of the sick to creating wine from water, Christ displayed His power and substantiated His claim that he was the Messiah. But what is the greatest miracle? Surprisingly it is not any of those performed by Jesus while He was on earth. No it is not even the new birth that he causes in sinners dead in trespasses of sins, as great a miracle that is. No, the miracle which surpasses all others is contained in this in this one phrase from John 1:14, "And the Word became flesh".


When I study the Bible, I like to understand the context of the verse, and the first five verses of the book of John provide an excellent background to this amazing event. Verses 1 and 2 state who Jesus is. He is the eternal Word, who is coequal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The apsotle John states explicitly that Jesus Christ is God and has existed forever. But this also makes it very clear that Jesus is a separate and distinct member of the trinity, thus dispelling any arguments from modalists, who claim that there is one God with three manifestations, not persons. In verse three John clearly states that Jesus is the creator of all things. Many people have the misunderstanding that it was God the Father who created the earth. In reality, Jesus Christ, our savior, was also our creator. This becomes extremely powerful when we understand verse 14. Just as a side issue, it is also very interesting that when man was created, the Old Testament makes it clear that it was the work of all three members of the trinity, Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

"In him was life". I love this phrase, because it absolutely demolishes the idea of evolution, that life can come from non-life. Clearly Jesus alone can clearly give life to anything, life can not, "just happen".

Now let's take a close look at verse 14. "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us,". This phrase states the greatest miracle that was ever accomplished in the history of time. Nothing else can compare to what is stated in that phrase. Of all the miracles that are recoded in the Bible God, in the person of Jesus Christ, became flesh and dwelt among us. That Jesus Christ, the eternal Word became flesh without losing any of his divinity is undoubtedly the most awesome event recorded in the Bible. And to think John describes it in one phrase, "The Word became flesh."

Serving God, Not Man

The Apostle Paul, in Galatians, penned the following in his letter to the Galatians: “For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased man, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Galatians 1:10) A simple question that is followed by a powerful answer, that Christians have honorable duty to serve God before any man. Triangulating Galatians 1:10 by taking a close look from three points of reference, namely, the Biblical view, how modern day Christians can apply the concept, and a personal illustration we will discover the lesson that lies behind this verse.

The nation of Israel had just escaped their four hundred arduous years of being slaves in Egypt. They had spent many months in the Sinai desert trudging through the broiling sand under a merciless sun. On the horizon, Canaan appeared as a dark silhouette of lush trees. A welcome sight after traveling through a bleak desert, the Promise Land lived up to its name. Moses, a wise leader, decided that it would be a good idea to send some spies so the Hebrew nation do not nonchalantly walk into someone’s backyard unprepared. Moses democratically picked one man from each of the twelve tribes to scout out the land before them and give a report of the land’s resources. After the twelve men completed their reconnaissance, they returned bringing in clusters of grapes so large it required two men to carry one cluster attached to a poll. They also brought stories of the land that flowed with milk and honey. Of course, the twelve men also informed the people that there were monstrous giants that made the Israelites look like grasshoppers. Ten men claimed that any attempt to take the land would result in a massacre. Caleb and Joshua countered by reminding everyone that God was on their side and that the giants would be conquered. Unfortunately, in an effort that placated men but not God, the majority ruled and all received the punishment of wandering in the desert for forty years. Illuminated by the story of the twelve spies, it appears absolutely essential for Christians, especially Christian leaders to strive to please the Almighty God of the Universe than the men of earth.

It is drastically important for a nation to follow God, especially if God represents the executive, judicial, and legislative branches of your government. Ananius and Sapphiras decided to please men with devastating consequences. Because many Christians engaged in selling various articles of wealth and donating them to the local church, Ananius and Sapphiras decided to sell some land, but they decided to skim the profits a little without telling anyone. The deception they displayed before the church and God resulted in instant deaths, a harrowing reminder of the effects that lying and catering to men bring upon someone. In today’s day and age, churches must strive to maintain a spirit of one accord. When half of the church decides to satisfy their own desires and aspirations while the other half hungers to follow God’s will, the church will fall. “And Jesus, knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) Modern day Christians must learn from their predecessors the importance of following God with all of the heart, mind, and soul. Although the resulting consequences rarely are as dire as those meted out to Ananius and Sapphiras, Christians must rise up to the standard laid out by Jesus and His Father.

All of the insight, inspiring Bible stories, and head knowledge of what you are supposed to do does not matter if the real life application never happens. Why train for something that will never happen? Over winter vacation, I received an assignment to enter the grocery store, select a tub of ice cream from an exacting, predetermined list contain on a piece of paper, purchase the items, and come home. Everything went according to plan until I began to fail at living up to the label society placed upon my peers and myself, Generation Multi-task. Despite the normally justified name, I absolutely could not walk, carry grocery bags, and place the change I received from the cashier into my pocket. The solution? Stop walking. For some reason, probably a God thing, I took the chance to count the money after I saw that there was ten-dollar bill where it wasn’t supposed to be. Checking the receipt I discovered that I should had only received eight dollars back when in reality, thirteen dollars lay in my hand. My conscience decided that I needed to return the money. Walking back into the store, a war raged inside my mind. Was it even possible to return the money because of the technology inside the cash register? If my conscience had not bothered me, my family would save five dollars, which would come to about a 30% savings or more. “A false balance is an abomination to the Lord; but a just weight is his delight.” (Proverbs 11:1) In this particular instance I would unscrupulously taking advantage of the store’s mistake, which would damage my witness. Upon the returning of the money, the worker was extremely grateful. Looking back, I am glad I decided to delight God rather than my inclinations of the flesh.

At this point, an important question comes to the surface, what does this all come down to? Not everyday does the possibility of getting thrown to the lions, selling property to donate the proceeds to a church, or making an important foreign policy decision arises. Some of those things will never happen in some people’s life, but everyone faces little decisions where the choice to please God or to please peers appears with clear distinction. God cares about the seemingly small choices just as He cares about life or nation changing decisions. Christians must stand firmly resolved that they will please God before they attempt to please man.

A Generation For Truth Podcast Episode 5

In this episode we discuss the ACE of Rick Warren's PEACE plan.

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PEACE Plan: The Final Verdict

On A Generation for Truth we have discussed and critiqued Rick Warren's PEACE Plan over the past few weeks. Now comes the time for a summarizing opinion, the final verdict if you will. My personal opinion, simply boils down to that the PEACE Plan misses the mark. Listen to Rick Warren's words regarding his Plan, "The first Reformation was about belief; this one's going to be about behavior." Falling back on my debate training and instincts I would now like to show the advantages and disadvantages of enacting the PEACE Plan.

Observation 1: Definitions

Philosophy of the PEACE Plan: Listen to Rick Warren's words regarding his Plan, "The first Reformation was about belief; this one's going to be about behavior." I would like to comment first by saying that Christians have been trying to influence Godly behavior since before the 1^st century.

PEACE Plan:

Promote Reconciliation

Equip servant leaders

Assist the poor

Care for the sick

Educate the next generation

Observation 2: Harms of the Status Quo

Rick Warren calls these the five "giant problems" that exist today.

Spiritual Emptiness (Aaron finds a major problem with the word "empty." I have a tendency to feel that they just messed up a little bit and should have used the phrase "Spiritual Darkness.")

Self-serving Leadership (Rick Warren hobnobs with some leaders that feel to belong in this category, however, if Warren attempts to truly make some of these socialistic thinkers to truly think about the people they claim to serve, then great.)

Extreme Poverty (As someone who enjoys finding historical patterns and cycles, extreme poverty occurs often when dictatorships arise. God creates both the wealthy and the poor, of those who receive much, much is expected. Also, if someone will not work, neither shall he eat.)

Pandemic Diseases (Diseases are a direct consequence of sin and many sins cause illness. Christians have established thousands of hospitals, clinics and other source of medical care across globe.)

Educate the Next Generation (What type of education are we talking about? A God centered philosophy or man centered ideologies?)

Observation 3: Advantages of the PEACE Plan

First Christians will address these problems and will be living witnesses for Christ although that is not the primary objective (see main disadvantage for further discussion). My church headed up ShareFest in our area and I believe had a positive impact on our community, why not reach out to the whole world if you can?

Observation 4: Disadvantages of the PEACE Plan

If Rick Warren had not made his "2nd Reformation" claim and instead stated that he believed that the church should help people in need, it would be an extremely great plan. But he focuses on the deed as opposed to doctrine. God judges the heart, not the outward appearance. Groups like Samaritan's Purse and Operation Christmas Child provide aid and supplies to countries around the world and the Gospel. The PEACE Plan could do this too.

The Bottom Line: "The first one to plead his cause seems right, until his neighbor comes and examines him." Proverbs 18:17

Will you be admitted into Heaven?

Only those not blotted from the Lamb's Book of Life are "Authorized  Personnel."

From time to time we are going to be posting video clips from sermons. This is from one of my favorite speakers, Paul Washer. This is a great clip which speaks about true conversion.