I am piecing together some news about the tornado damage and possible relief efforts in Alabama.
So far, I know that a friend of Matt Chancey was killed. He was the father of 13, protecting his children – also a member of Briarwood Presb. Matt is heading home from Africa to help.
I’ve contacted MNA disaster relief, but have not heard back from them. I’ve contacted Jeff Pate, but have not heard back.
Then there is Tuscaloosa. Julian and Barbara are heading up to help the Britts (Wes and Katie). They lost their home and possessions, but they are ok. We will see how our church can help, so more info to come.
Please pray and I will convey concrete news and ways to help as I can. 130 lost lives is a tremendous loss to many families. Our hope to work with the PCA churches there for a wider Gospel impact for the needs
Todd Baucum, Pastor
(From Lindsay Townsend….)
To everyone that has asked how they can help the BOYD/BRITT family...Some are sending a prepaid gift card to them via Jackie Boyd. Her address is Jackie Boyd 1761 Commons North Loop, SUITE 3104, Tuscaloosa, Al 35406.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Monday, April 25, 2011
Easter Message - 2011@ FPC
The Resurrection of Jesus Christ transformed three things according to John 20:1-10; Time, the Rhythm of Life, and the thinking of believers. Ever wonder why Jesus rose again on the "First Day"? How does this affect us today? Click on the title and hear my message about the "Lord's Day" and its connection to the Resurrection.
Resurrection Day
Ephes. 2:1-7 (ESV)
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins
[2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4] But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
You were dead. It is a word so cold and brutal. And yet so true is it in its spiritual diagnosis. We lay in the dust of death, like Isaiah’s vision of dry bones; we can do nothing but lay in silence.
“I am the Resurrection and the Life.” (John 11:25) Jesus said these words against the doubt and uncertainty of life when death seemed to have the last word. On the human side, death’s pangs have a certain finality to it. The body goes back to the dirt it came from and the intense ache in the stomach of love’s bereavement is all too “real” to imagine anything different. This is the curse of sin, and the last enemy, which speaks so strongly to us mortals.
Yet, we are rooted in a greater reality, if we truly belong to Christ. Come Easter, we join the chorus of a sacred company that gives testimony to something grand and glorious. We will join the company of Job who longed to see his Redeemer in his physical body (Job19:24). We stand with Martha and Mary who saw and embraced a brother walk from a tomb, with the aroma of new life (John 11:44). We stand with the company of 500 witnesses who knew that Gospel was true because they saw the Resurrected Jesus (1 Cor. 15:6). This is the truth of what we embrace in the reality of Christ’s power and glory in His Resurrection. Many who’ve heard this story since childhood or listened with causal interest in countless sermons, the Easter message is old hat, or just another special day for family dinner. To such, the reality of this life-changing truth has not possessed their soul, nor captured their heart. For the same power that raised Jesus is promised to those who commit their lives to Christ (Eph. 2:4). This is resurrection reality as it bears relevance for our daily lives. It is as much a present and living experience as it is a future hope.
Think what Job had in being the oldest testimony of this precious hope. Job is considered by many scholars to be the oldest book in the Bible. The commentary of the English Standard Version of the Bible states:
“Considered both a theological and a literary masterpiece, the book of Job is an honest discussion of why God allows good people to suffer. The test of Job’s faith, allowed by God in response to a challenge from Satan, revealed God’s loving sovereignty and the supremacy of divine wisdom over human wisdom (personified by Job’s four friends). Believing that God is good despite the apparent evidence to the contrary, Job rested in faith alone. In the depths of agony he could still proclaim, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (19:25). In the end God silenced all discussion with the truth that he alone is wise” (chs. 38–41).
Join the company of those who know this power and long to praise their Redeemer this Sunday. For this is a good day as is every first day of the week to be reminded of this most important truth about what gives us hope and gives us power for living life, in the face of a world blindly pursuing the “dust of death.”
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Superheroes and Christ the Victor
1 Cor. 15:56-58 (ESV)
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Hebrews 11:13 (ESV)
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
In the last decade several movies have been made (some with many sequels) based on the old superheroes of comic books and TV cartoons. Some of us were kids when we got hooked on watching Batman and Robin beat up the bad guys or Spiderman help little old ladies from getting mugged. There seemed to be a moral quality about these superheroes from the comics that reflected a boundary between goodness and evil and the need for justice. Yet today with the sophistication of computer generated “virtual reality” and the postmodern quest for complexity of character, the Superheroes have a dark side. Complexity is not a bad thing or unchristian. There is a dark side to us all. We know the nature of the human heart and that even among believers we do not deal with cardboard characters. Romans chapter 7 is not a make believe struggle between pretend forces. Paul knew the power of remaining sin in a regenerated heart. The Bible gives us the prayers of King David as well as his private lusts and public scandals. Paul does not hide his physical weakness or his discouragement in ministry (1 Cor. 2:3). Whitewashing heroes to make them something unreal or comical is not what biblical truth is about. Our heroes in faith are not people with unblemished records or superhuman powers, but showed remarkable complexity of personalities. They were very much ordinary men and women who in the midst of testing did something rather extraordinary; they believed in God (Heb.11). I don’t know about you, but it is very comforting to know that these where real people with real problems. They rose above the scandalous record of their past, not by moral improvement, but by the faith of the Gospel.
They were counted righteous by faith in the One who is victorious over all evil and sin. Christ is not our cardboard hero, who won the war over sin and death by superhuman strength. The early church refuted any attempt to make Jesus into a Greek demigod, part human and part god. He was every part of his being human and every part God. The Christian faith is rooted in the truth that God made a plan to restore a lost humanity by getting involved at a personal level. The message of the Cross and the Resurrection is essentially that of God pouring all of his love into the act of redeeming a people for Himself to love eternally. It is at the center a sacrifice of substitution. Justice demands that evil and sin be judged and punished. The Cross and the Resurrection, are the key events where God the Son gives finality to the problem of our lost and condemned condition. The comic book heroes have to keep at the fight, as much as they win, there is always a nemesis out there.
Our victory which Christ won, is assured and final.
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. [57] But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. [58] Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.
Hebrews 11:13 (ESV)
These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
In the last decade several movies have been made (some with many sequels) based on the old superheroes of comic books and TV cartoons. Some of us were kids when we got hooked on watching Batman and Robin beat up the bad guys or Spiderman help little old ladies from getting mugged. There seemed to be a moral quality about these superheroes from the comics that reflected a boundary between goodness and evil and the need for justice. Yet today with the sophistication of computer generated “virtual reality” and the postmodern quest for complexity of character, the Superheroes have a dark side. Complexity is not a bad thing or unchristian. There is a dark side to us all. We know the nature of the human heart and that even among believers we do not deal with cardboard characters. Romans chapter 7 is not a make believe struggle between pretend forces. Paul knew the power of remaining sin in a regenerated heart. The Bible gives us the prayers of King David as well as his private lusts and public scandals. Paul does not hide his physical weakness or his discouragement in ministry (1 Cor. 2:3). Whitewashing heroes to make them something unreal or comical is not what biblical truth is about. Our heroes in faith are not people with unblemished records or superhuman powers, but showed remarkable complexity of personalities. They were very much ordinary men and women who in the midst of testing did something rather extraordinary; they believed in God (Heb.11). I don’t know about you, but it is very comforting to know that these where real people with real problems. They rose above the scandalous record of their past, not by moral improvement, but by the faith of the Gospel.
They were counted righteous by faith in the One who is victorious over all evil and sin. Christ is not our cardboard hero, who won the war over sin and death by superhuman strength. The early church refuted any attempt to make Jesus into a Greek demigod, part human and part god. He was every part of his being human and every part God. The Christian faith is rooted in the truth that God made a plan to restore a lost humanity by getting involved at a personal level. The message of the Cross and the Resurrection is essentially that of God pouring all of his love into the act of redeeming a people for Himself to love eternally. It is at the center a sacrifice of substitution. Justice demands that evil and sin be judged and punished. The Cross and the Resurrection, are the key events where God the Son gives finality to the problem of our lost and condemned condition. The comic book heroes have to keep at the fight, as much as they win, there is always a nemesis out there.
Our victory which Christ won, is assured and final.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Sunday, April 17, Morning Sermon
The death of Jesus Christ on the Cross has great personal significance for us today. Click on the title and find out how.
Monday, April 11, 2011
April10 - Sunday Morning Sermon - "Are You The King?"
My message for Sunday from John 18:28-40; the trial of Jesus before Pilate. A look at three types of authority that people can give their allegiance and the truth of following the Kingly rule of Jesus Christ.
An Evangelical and Reformed Faith
An Evangelical and Reformed Faith
A solid defense for traditional Reformed faith by Terry Johnson.
A solid defense for traditional Reformed faith by Terry Johnson.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
What Reformed Christians Can Learn From C.S. Lewis
I argue that Lewis has much to help us in the Reformed camp to thinking about our faith in relationship to an unbelieving world. In this Lewis does belong to us. Read him with discernment as you would read any one, I keep telling people.
I will add what J.I. Packer (a low church Anglican on the Reformed side) wrote about Lewis:
“Lewis claimed no identity save that of a ‘mere Christian’, lay and untutored; but he was identifiably a High Church Anglican, orthodox and mainstream, whose Christian mind was shaped mainly by the heritage of Plato, Athanasius, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas a Kempis, Richard Hooker, Thomas Traherne and William Law, plus the Scotsman George MacDonald. Apart from MacDonald, this roster of giants had been shaping Anglican minds long before Lewis’s day, and all that was distinctive to Lewis was his adhering to this heritage at a time when it was fashionable to leave it behind…
Since Lewis spoke so forthrightly for mainstream Christianity, and since historic evangelicals (Christians, that is, who find their identity within the Reformational-Puritan-Pentecostal mix) belong to the mainstream, it is hardly surprising that for many of them Lewis has something like icon status, despite his smoking and drinking, his belief in purgatory and his quite but decided sacramentalism, his use of confessional to keep himself honest, his non-inerrantist view of Scripture, and his unwillingness to speak of penal substitution and justification by faith alone when affirming forgiveness and salvation in Christ.
What evangelicals most love in Lewis is his depiction of Aslan, the Christly lion of Narnia; his strong defense of biblical supernaturalism, personal new birth, Christ’s return to judgment, the reality of Satan, heaven and hell, and the certainty that we all are inescapably en route for one or the other, according to what each does with such light from God reaches us…his stress on repentance and actual submission to Christ as the heart of Christianity; his openness about his conversion from atheism, and his concern to help others make the same journey; his mental vigour in seeking to make every thought captive to Christ by thinking out in terms of God’s revealed truth; and the wit, humour and playfulness with which he pursues this solemn task. Tuning in to all of this, evangelicals claim Lewis as essentially ‘one of us’- and who should want to stop them doing that? (“Living Truth For a Dying World: the Message of C.S. Lewis”, in J.I. Packer Collection, ed. Alister McGrath, pg. 272-273).
I still wonder why Lewis himself did not convert to Roman Catholicism like so many of his friends, if he was truly and decidedly on “their side.” I will be happy to still claim him as good guide for application of Christian truth. And keep Calvin as my helpful guide in understanding Biblical truth.
Was C.S. Lewis an Anglo-Catholic?
(in reply to Brian Carpenter’s blog)
Any biblical Christian must read Lewis with discernment, because as Lewis would admit himself, he is not the touchstone of biblical faith. He was, however a good guide to historic orthodoxy. I first read a copy of “The Screwtape Letters”, when I was in High School in Texas and it began a life-long interest and conversation with Lewis’s thinking. How an Oxford atheist, turned Christian apologist grabbed the attention of a young kid raised on fundamentalist religion is a mystery. But, then it is in the “shadow-lands” of mystery that Lewis makes a case for rational belief in the Christian faith. Here in his principle works of both his explicit apologetics and his “cultural” apologetics (i.e. works of fiction) that he rises to great heights. He once wrote, “most of my books are evangelistic, addressed to us exo (those outside).” On issues of intramural theology, he did play his cards close. You are right about some of his weaknesses from “our point of view”. He never claimed to be a Calvinist. But he drank deeply from the wells of Puritan authors. Richard Baxter, John Bunyan and William Law were writers he quoted revealing an appreciation of Reformed Spirituality that came from the English Puritans. He in fact was often accused of being too “Puritan”. Just read the criticism he received by Dr. I.A. Richards (an atheist akin to Richard Hitchens) in his essay “Christianity and Culture”. He sought to rehabilitate the negative image of the Puritans in a day when they were equated with flat earthers and witch hunters.
Even though we might find the soft Calvinism of George MacDonald slipping over the standards of the Westminster Confession, it was this Scottish trained clergyman that Lewis said influenced his thinking more than any other. Yet, even then Lewis was not uncritical of MacDonald’s own attraction to universalism.
Lewis rejected what he called the notion of total depravity, but then described what might be called clear Reformed view of fallen man and the total need of grace. Where he mentions the view he rejects is in the discussion of the ability of human reason to think, much in the same way that Gordon Clark and R.C. Sproul argue for the role of reason in fallen man.
Did Lewis argue from Rome’s point of view and use the traditionalist argument on the role of women in the priesthood. Now let’s be clear, Lewis as a faithful churchman in the CofE, used terminology we would not. We don’t have priests. When he states that the women can preach, he is quoting the Bible and shows where such is the case- as in the daughters of Phillip. We too can say that women can preach and teach. I once heard a woman preach. The issue is whether they ought. And what the Bible says is a lawful or ordained office that is only open to men. Once again, the essay in question does rest more on where the Bible makes clear that the differences in the sexes are a created reality. We can no more change the distinct reality of our sex than we can change the language that the Bible uses about God. It seems to me his arguments are soundly biblical.
Was Lewis a sacramentalist? His comment on the sacredness of one’s neighbor in the “Weight of Glory” (the only sermon Lewis ever preached, and so powerful) shows nothing more than what any Anglican of the sort that Packer, Stott, Green, and other low church Evangelicals might describe. Ian Hamilton also might call Calvin a sacramentalist, as well. Hamilton who preaches at Cambridge Presbyterian Church in England, recently spoke on the high view of the Sacraments (only two) that the great Reformer had. Lewis use of the word magic was not of the Roman Medieval sort, but rather an appreciation of the mysterious reality that is beyond our comprehension. I dare say that his understanding of the healing of Joy, was not tied to an ex opere operato understanding of priestly rites, but to the effectiveness of prayer and divine grace.
Yes, Lewis does quote the Tractarian Newman (Anglican turned to Rome and later made Cardinal) but he also shows a fundamental disagreement with Newman in his essay, “Christianity and Culture”, showing a remarkable kinship with the Reformed view of grace and nature.
Is his view purgatory a Roman one? He denies the idea of merit. As one reads Lewis, he is simply posing the idea that something must happen in our final sanctification to remove the body of sin from us. How that happens in Glory is a truth veiled from us. Here like, Dante, he is using a baptized imagination. Like Milton, he keeps clear from making any fundamental confusion of categories about grace and works.
Any biblical Christian must read Lewis with discernment, because as Lewis would admit himself, he is not the touchstone of biblical faith. He was, however a good guide to historic orthodoxy. I first read a copy of “The Screwtape Letters”, when I was in High School in Texas and it began a life-long interest and conversation with Lewis’s thinking. How an Oxford atheist, turned Christian apologist grabbed the attention of a young kid raised on fundamentalist religion is a mystery. But, then it is in the “shadow-lands” of mystery that Lewis makes a case for rational belief in the Christian faith. Here in his principle works of both his explicit apologetics and his “cultural” apologetics (i.e. works of fiction) that he rises to great heights. He once wrote, “most of my books are evangelistic, addressed to us exo (those outside).” On issues of intramural theology, he did play his cards close. You are right about some of his weaknesses from “our point of view”. He never claimed to be a Calvinist. But he drank deeply from the wells of Puritan authors. Richard Baxter, John Bunyan and William Law were writers he quoted revealing an appreciation of Reformed Spirituality that came from the English Puritans. He in fact was often accused of being too “Puritan”. Just read the criticism he received by Dr. I.A. Richards (an atheist akin to Richard Hitchens) in his essay “Christianity and Culture”. He sought to rehabilitate the negative image of the Puritans in a day when they were equated with flat earthers and witch hunters.
Even though we might find the soft Calvinism of George MacDonald slipping over the standards of the Westminster Confession, it was this Scottish trained clergyman that Lewis said influenced his thinking more than any other. Yet, even then Lewis was not uncritical of MacDonald’s own attraction to universalism.
Lewis rejected what he called the notion of total depravity, but then described what might be called clear Reformed view of fallen man and the total need of grace. Where he mentions the view he rejects is in the discussion of the ability of human reason to think, much in the same way that Gordon Clark and R.C. Sproul argue for the role of reason in fallen man.
Did Lewis argue from Rome’s point of view and use the traditionalist argument on the role of women in the priesthood. Now let’s be clear, Lewis as a faithful churchman in the CofE, used terminology we would not. We don’t have priests. When he states that the women can preach, he is quoting the Bible and shows where such is the case- as in the daughters of Phillip. We too can say that women can preach and teach. I once heard a woman preach. The issue is whether they ought. And what the Bible says is a lawful or ordained office that is only open to men. Once again, the essay in question does rest more on where the Bible makes clear that the differences in the sexes are a created reality. We can no more change the distinct reality of our sex than we can change the language that the Bible uses about God. It seems to me his arguments are soundly biblical.
Was Lewis a sacramentalist? His comment on the sacredness of one’s neighbor in the “Weight of Glory” (the only sermon Lewis ever preached, and so powerful) shows nothing more than what any Anglican of the sort that Packer, Stott, Green, and other low church Evangelicals might describe. Ian Hamilton also might call Calvin a sacramentalist, as well. Hamilton who preaches at Cambridge Presbyterian Church in England, recently spoke on the high view of the Sacraments (only two) that the great Reformer had. Lewis use of the word magic was not of the Roman Medieval sort, but rather an appreciation of the mysterious reality that is beyond our comprehension. I dare say that his understanding of the healing of Joy, was not tied to an ex opere operato understanding of priestly rites, but to the effectiveness of prayer and divine grace.
Yes, Lewis does quote the Tractarian Newman (Anglican turned to Rome and later made Cardinal) but he also shows a fundamental disagreement with Newman in his essay, “Christianity and Culture”, showing a remarkable kinship with the Reformed view of grace and nature.
Is his view purgatory a Roman one? He denies the idea of merit. As one reads Lewis, he is simply posing the idea that something must happen in our final sanctification to remove the body of sin from us. How that happens in Glory is a truth veiled from us. Here like, Dante, he is using a baptized imagination. Like Milton, he keeps clear from making any fundamental confusion of categories about grace and works.
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
A Church Planting Journey in Japan
A Church Planting Journey in Japan
Check out the news from Japan and the work of our missionaries, Wayne and Amy Newsome. "O Father of All Grace and Mercy, grant your people in Japan the courage to show the light of your Gospel in the dark places of sin and misery. Give our missionaries new energy and strength in sharing your love for the days to come. For the sake of Jesus Christ and for His glory. Amen."
Check out the news from Japan and the work of our missionaries, Wayne and Amy Newsome. "O Father of All Grace and Mercy, grant your people in Japan the courage to show the light of your Gospel in the dark places of sin and misery. Give our missionaries new energy and strength in sharing your love for the days to come. For the sake of Jesus Christ and for His glory. Amen."
Monday, April 4, 2011
Letter to our Neigborhood
Hello Neighbor!
Our Church has been able by God’s grace to be a place of worship and service in Christ’s name for over 70 years right here in this historic neighborhood. It is our vision to remain here and provide a visible presence for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be proclaimed for the prospering of this great community.
Having a sanctuary that reflects the glory and beauty of our God is important to us. Our desire to renovate our building and to bring it up to the current needs of the congregation require us to be properly zoned.
Therefore, it has been announced that there will be a public hearing on March 22, at 4:30 pm for the purpose of this making our present property be zoned for what it already is, a church.
Our hope is to provide a renovation to both the interior and exterior which will be in keeping with the present unique architecture of this building, designed by Willis Irvin of Augusta, Georgia, a renowned architect of the early 20th Century. We believe that it will enhance the beauty and quality of life of this neighborhood as well as reflect the glory and honor we believe is owed to our Majestic and Sovereign God, in whom to serve is our delight and to worship is our greatest joy.
We want to be good neighbors and invite you to ask about the new plans, come and see, and of course you are always welcome to come worship with us. Morning worship is at 10:30 am and Evening worship is at 5:00 pm.
Sincerely,
For the Session(Elders),
Pastor Todd D. Baucum
4/3/11- Evening Sermon - Jeremiah 35
"The Real Promise Keepers". A look at what obedience looks like and the reason Grace enables us to obey the commands of Christ. Reflecting on the Rachabites, an austere people who lived in the desert and abstained from wine.
April 4 - Morning Sermon - Psalm 3
Another sermon in the series on the Psalms - "The Anatomy of the Soul". Psalm 3 is a Psalm of personal lament. The title of the sermon is "When You Are Attacked." King David wrote this song in response to Absalom's revolt and the armies that came to attack him. It is an example of singing the Blues.
Click on the title above to hear the sermon.
Click on the title above to hear the sermon.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Alligators at the Elder's Retreat
We had a good Elders' Retreat this past weekend at Lake Eufaula. I don't have the picture yet, but we saw lots of alligators. At one point we were in a boat surrounded by 8 big alligators. Sort of makes me glad we have unity in the Session.
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