alan4jc
Feb 14, 2008
This is excellent, to see Chuck Smith Sr. standing up boldly for the truth of the Gospel
This is excellent, to see Chuck Smith Sr. standing up boldly for the truth of the Gospel
that's good stuff man, thanks for the link.This is excellent, to see Chuck Smith Sr. standing up boldly for the truth of the Gospel
phil
I believe this insight is good also...
A third positional statement is found in the CCOF publication entitled: “Line upon Line”, published 2007. Pastor Chuck’s introductory statement is copied below:
Line upon Line
“How do you read a personal letter? Do you tear open the envelope and randomly start reading a line here and a line there to find out what the correspondent has to say? Do you browse only a portion of the letter? Do you only read the opening or the ending of the letter?
No, you start at the beginning of the letter-and from the "Dear" to the "Yours Truly"-you read it straight through to comprehend the full meaning of what is being communicated!
If this is true for a letter from a friend, how much more should it be when we read and teach through God' s Word? If God's people are to understand the fullness of God's will and character, they need a well-balanced meal: the whole Bible.
If a person only ate hot fudge sundaes, he may seem content for a while, but he will become fat and sickly, and eventually his health will fail. If one is to be healthy, they need the vegetables, the fruit, the meat, and potatoes in order to keep the body fit and running properly.
Sadly, some pastors just give the dessert-a verse here, and a topic there; they like to fatten the people with sweets and nice tasting treats. Yet they are troubled when the people are sick and weak.
It is only by going straight through the full counsel of God that makes a healthy people, a hearty, well-fed congregation. One of the Calvary Chapel distinctives is teaching straight through the books in the Bible. God has blessed this distinctive. There has been tremendous growth and great fruit from the teaching of God's Word. The people are well fed and hungry for more! For this, we thank the Lord!
Unfortunately, there is the temptation with some pastors to attract people with sweet-tasting sermons and slick church services, entertaining them with a lot of things other than sound Bible teaching. True the people may say, "Oh, isn't that guy a crack up?" or "Isn't he a great speaker?" But the reality is you're giving the people the whipped cream, the hot fudge sundae, and something that is very exciting to their taste buds-but it doesn't develop a strong, healthy body.
The solution to the dilemma of dessert-only teaching is to go straight through the Bible, book by book, verse by verse, and line upon line-in order that people might get a balanced diet, and begin to understand the Bible's teachings on a whole range of issues and topics.
Why is balance important? Many of the issues in the church today are multi-faceted; there are usually two sides. And if we only emphasize one side of an issue, we may be in error of neglecting the whole counsel of God's view on the topic. You have to give them a balanced teaching to arrive at the truth.
As an example, there is the truth of the sovereignty of God. He is sovereign. There is no denying that truth. But if you only emphasize the sovereignty of God, and you never deal with the human responsibility of man, you're not giving the people the whole truth, because the sovereignty of God is balanced by the human responsibility that God requires of man. And thus you have the balanced truth. So when we go through the entire Bible, there will be that built-in check and balance system to help keep us objective and in line with the full teaching of the Bible.
My challenge to you is this: if this through-the-Bible teaching is not a distinctive of your ministry, I would encourage you to go to another church or a denomination and learn how to entertain and have a relevant program that will appeal to people's 'felt needs!' But the reality is this dessert-only or seeker-based philosophy of ministry is not Calvary Chapel; we do not seek to entertain, but to feed the people as Jesus commanded. And the only way to produce healthy, spiritual people is teach them the full counsel of God, expositing and expounding the truths found in His Word.
How many of you want to spend your whole ministry trying to patch up disgruntled people, feeding them whipped cream and hot fudge sundaes, all the while dealing with all the health problems of a sick congregation? Not me!
I encourage you to teach the Word of God-from Genesis to Revelation. Watch the growth. The most exciting thing in the world is to watch people grow from being nourished and strengthened and fed the whole counsel of God's truth.”
Pastor Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa
This is so refreshing. And this is how I teach in our house church. I am not clever enough to come up with topic sermons. I much prefer to start at the beginning of a particular book in scripture and start with chapter 1 verse 1 and off we go.
I believe another good name for "Emergent Church" is "Apostacy Church". So far, I havent liked anything I see coming from the Emergent Church movememnt.
Krispy
Forgive my ignorance, saints, but what is an "emergent church?"
I haven't watched television in four years and I don't have a stereo. I'm feeling a little out-of-the-loop, not to mention foolish!
Hello,
The easiest way to find out who they are is to do a google or yahoo search for that phrase "emergent church". You will get lots of info from both sides.
I haven't watched television in four years and I don't have a stereo. I'm feeling a little out-of-the-loop, not to mention foolish!
No, dont feel foolish. I respect that. I wish I was at your level, brother.
Krispy
KrispyKrittr wrote:I haven't watched television in four years and I don't have a stereo. I'm feeling a little out-of-the-loop, not to mention foolish!
No, dont feel foolish. I respect that. I wish I was at your level, brother.
Krispy
It's pretty sad that, even in my unsaved state, I couldn't bear what was passing for entertainment anymore. It's just legalized voyeurism and brain-washing.
When people ask me why I don't watch television anymore, I say, "Because, I don't have to lift the lid off the sewer to know what's inside." That's what it felt like to me... having an open sewer line running through my living room.
PreachParsly wrote:
Hello,The easiest way to find out who they are is to do a google or yahoo search for that phrase "emergent church". You will get lots of info from both sides.
True. I've just been trying to stay off the "regular" internet as much as possible to keep my mind focused and soaked only in the Word.
I did Google it and didn't like what I read. Somebody ought to call their mothers...
Somebody ought to call their mothers...
:-P
SimpleLiving wrote:
Forgive my ignorance, saints, but what is an "emergent church?"I haven't watched television in four years and I don't have a stereo. I'm feeling a little out-of-the-loop, not to mention foolish!
Hi brother,
Here are some links you might find helpful.
http://www.christianworldviewnetwork.com/bio.php/6/Jason_Carlson - this is articles by Jason Carlson, there's several he's written concerning the Emergent Church.
The Emergent church started as a way to reach to a post-modern society. But instead of reaching them the emergent church has imbibed much of post-modern teachings, and is tossing absolute truth out the door in exchange for moral relativism. It's a movement that is 'tolerant' of other religions, and is embracing mysticism and other strange things.
I just watched a dvd by Jason Carlson and that is where I gleaned my information. And that's just barely opening the lid to see what this dangerous movement is proporting. The more I hear about this movement the more I realize that this group could become our persecutors. The days are coming when it will carry a very big price tag to say, 'Jesus Christ is the [b]only way
Hope that helps you understand them better.
~Joy
SimpleLiving...
The Emergent Church movement, in a word, is a loose network of churches and individuals connected by some or all of the following ideas:
* In order to maintain its influence, the church must "re-emerge" in an updated and relevant form with each generation. The church must, in fact, be in a perpetual state of emerging from old conveniences, forms, styles, and motifs if it is to present its message in the most acceptable way.
This is in contrast to the Reformation ideal of "Always Reforming", which implies always returning to the original form of doctrine and ecclesiology. The Emergent movement is not concerned so much with going back to the originals, but discovering the frontier of thought and practice as it relates to "Christian Ideas".
* The Emergent movement handles the scriptures with a distinct looseness. Unlike liberals who frankly deny the inspiration or meaning of the word, Emergents tend to support the divine inspiration of the bible while denying our ability to make black and white interpretations of it. There is vastly more room to "get what you want" out of it. They call this "Dialogging" or having "Conversations", playing sound-board with one another for ideas while tending to ignore traditional exegesis and received understandings of passages.
* A heavy influence on being "relevant to the present culture" which often manifests itself in such acts as adopting the latest styles, genres of music into worship, extra-biblical forms such as the option to paint on walls instead of singing corporately.
Many of their leaders are drifting towards Socinianism - Universal Salvation for all, no hell, Deity of Christ in question, God's Sovereignty in question.
Unfortunately, it seems to me that they cannot sustain their carnally-bought audiences without more of the same, and in higher doses. Those who are won by the plain gospel and the pure Spirit will seek more simple truth and deeper holiness. Those who are drawn by cool styles, selfish forms, and shocking looseness will eventually go back to the world or succeed in turning the church houses into brothels and entertainment stadiums.
This subject is discussed at length on another thread [url=https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/index.php]here
Clint
Hey Clint, the link is broken.
Also discussed at length on Steve Camp's blog...it's worth a regular visit, if you don't already know about it:
Thanks for the Camp link DJ_McKay,
I enjoyed his music awhile back, but I think I like the essays on his blog even more. Sound Christian men are a profound blessing to the Church.
MC
The best introduction to the Emerging (Emergent) Church-theology is to read Brian McLarens early litterature on the subject. In general "A New Kind Of Christian" (hmm, the title is deceptive), and "A Generous Orthodoxy".
He is a very good and entertaining writer.
The best critical introduction to the Emerging Movement however, is D. A. Carsons "Becoming Conversant with the Emerging Church". Dr. Carson also lectures on the subject (and other important ones) which you can find here:
http://pjtibayan.wordpress.com/2006/10/17/d-a-carson-audio-sermonslectures/
http://andynaselli.com/theology/d-a-carson-mp3s
Dr. Carson is a great speaker and scholar (probably one of the best there is today) and a warm Christian who struggle for the truth of the faith. I highly recommend that you listen to his wise study of the movement.
Concerning the Emerging Movement - it is really spreading rapidly - over the world. I believe it to be a venomous and deceptive teaching... David Wilkerson has spoken about the movement in 2005 (look at timessquarechurch.org for more details).
Sincerely Magnus :-D
Great! Printing off a copy right now. Thank you!
I attend a Calvary Chapel here is Boston and I agree with Chuck on this and one of our Pastors has been telling us about this "end times deception" and gave us a great resourse called "Faith Undone by Roger Oakland" it's available on Lighthouse Trails Publishing and it's easy to understand,Carson's book which was also recommended earlier is good.But there is no greater weapon than God's Word to help us see the Truth so we will recognize the lies like the majority of the Emergents
However There is one Pastor who came out of this movement and reveals the unbiblical perhaps demonic teachings of these emergents and his name is Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle I will say though he uses alot of street langauge his teaching so if you prayerfully consider listening to him beforwarned I love it but it's not for eveyone,I believe he tears apart thier false teaching well by giving a modern reformed charismatic approach with a conservative orthodox view of the bible-Just my opinion,he wrote an article for the Criswell Theological review explaing the heresies of the emergents and has done well to distance himself from thier view while remaining a vital force for God within the culture without being consumed by and feeding it's filth
Sola Scriptura-In Christ's Love
Brian :-)
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