They Will Tell the Story of This Day (Mark Driscoll Real Marriage)

This clip demonstrates Mark's passion for the gospel and how integral it is with walking in faith in marriage.  What he understands which most non-believers don't is that in order for a marriage to be as full as God intended, it requires a rebirth, a peace with God, a recognition of our sin and how that destroys the foundation of everything that we come into contact with, including marriage.  Enjoy.

If you would like more information on our upcoming marriage course, please email us at hillcountryreformed@gmail.com, or call us at 403-932-0519.  The course starts Feb. 3, and runs every Friday consecutively for 11 weeks (minus one Good Friday).  We look forward to hearing from you.

Where Are You, Men? (Mark Driscoll, Real Marriage)

This is a 5 minute clip that does nothing except get me revved up for our upcoming Real Marriage Course coming to Cochrane in February.  This is an 11 week course, and we believe it is not only for those that are married, but for those getting married, or ANYONE who ever wants to get married.  In fact, my 15 year old son will be in attendance as I can see nothing better to prepare him for marriage (outside of the Bible).  We will be getting more information out to residents of Cochrane soon, and if there are any others out there that want to join us in our course, please feel free to email us at hillcountryreformed@gmail.com, or message us here at Sola Ministries.

An Incarnational Mission

This Christmas season I have been struck in a fresh way by the incarnation of Christ.  Truly as a Christian I so often like to distance myself from the implication of what Christ did and how it should affect my life and ministry personally.  I love to sing, "Silent Night" and "Joy to the world the Lord has come", but always keeping myself removed from what this model of incarnation means now that I profess Christ as Lord and desire to take up my cross and follow.  Let us think for a moment what happened at the incarnation before I attempt to apply it.  What a more profound and glorious passage than Philippians chapter 2 verse 5-8 to teach us this?

"Having this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant [this word in the Greek really means "slave"], being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

For us as finite, fallen humans we can not even begin to comprehend what the extent of that humility was for Christ.  How can we ever measure the glory that he left for a season to come as a man?  I heard a man compare it to us humbling ourselves to a rat in order to let them beat, curse and finally crucify us for their salvation!  How grotesque that seems to our pride, but truly that would only scratch the surface of what Christ did in coming as man.  Oh what a faithful and glorious high priest we have!

Now to apply it...

I am want to borrow a few thoughts from John Stott's book, "The Living Church", as it has challenged me greatly over this holiday season.  He writes,

"On the one hand we are called out of the world to belong to God, and on the other we are sent back into the world to witness and to serve. Moreover, the mission of the church is modeled on the mission of Christ. He himself said so. 'As the Father has sent me, I am sending you' (John 20:21).  His mission meant for him the incarnation.  He did not stay in the safe immunity of his heaven. Instead he emptied himself of his glory and humbled himself to serve."  and "All authentic mission is incarnational mission".

While we love to talk and sing about the incarnation of Christ, and so we should!, and yet we are so slow to hear his words ringing through the ages..."As the Father has sent me, I am sending you".  Obviously this can begin to apply in a million different ways.  It has implications for us personally, the way I relate to my wife, my children, my parents, my siblings, my neighbour.  Will I humble myself and seek to truly enter into their world of struggle and pain and die to my own rights and agenda and simply seek to be poured out as a drink offering for there sake to the glory and praise of God?

How about for us as churches.  We will be content to run our programs, puff ourselves up with knowledge and continue to to point a mocking finger at our world and culture as it slowly slips in to spiritual and moral destruction?  Not that I want to belittle the need for fellowship, teaching and preaching, but we must keep it in perspective.  For we are not called to simply be fed and then lie down our heads to sleep, but to go and take the hope in these jars of clay to a lost and dying world.

I pray that we might model the incarnation in our daily lives as people bought with the precious blood of Christ.  For what kind of slaves would we be if we refuse to offer our lives and enter the worlds of others when our glorious King and Saviour displayed the greatest humility and grace in his coming for us? May our lives model an incarnational mission.

Wretched: Tim Hawkin's Christmas Carol Disaster

Merry Christmas everyone!  Stay safe and God bless you all!

I Got Nothin'

So I want to post something, but nothing's coming.  How about instead of pushing or forcing something, I simply admit "I got nothin'." and go hang out with my kids, maybe teach them how to play crib, play against my youngest at Wii Sports (and get beaten badly...as usual), and take my oldest boy for a coffee.  I might even hang out with my lovely wife today.

Yes, that's what I'm going to do.

Merry Christmas everyone.

The Narrow Way to Life

As I have posted on FB and have told people in the last couple of days, I have been emotionally devastated by Matt. 7:13-14 where Jesus talks about the two gates.  I have known this scripture, studied this scripture, PREACHED on this scripture, but in the last two days I have felt it's message more profoundly than I have ever felt before.  Lo and behold this video shows up on my subscriptions section, and puts an exclamation point on my day.  I can't describe to you what I'm feeling right now...I really can't.

Dear Lord: May people hear and see this video and see You for the first time.  Lord save someone today...

Wretched: All Hail the Power!

Calling ALL CATHOLICS!!

Today I had two (yes, two) conversations with Catholics, one a 50 year, the other 30 year Catholics that told me flat out that Roman Catholicism DOES NOT believe that one must believe in Jesus to be saved.  RC is just one of MANY ways to God.

This cannot be true; can it?  If you are Catholic, please tell me what YOU believe the RC Church believes in the doctrines of salvation (how a person gets saved).  Please give it some careful thought and post as I'm no Catholic scholar, but I'm almost POSITIVE that RC's MUST be saved by Jesus.  Am I right??

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Our Sunday Christmas service was great, thanks to all those that participated, it was greatly appreciated.  We will be off for the next three weeks as our facility will be closed for the next two Sunday's.  God bless you all, and have a Merry Christmas.

You planted a what???!?!?!

(this blog was originally published on Amy's blog, but we thought we would share it here too)


I was emailing with a dear friend of mine, and realized she has no idea about something that has been going on in my life that is, in a nutshell, really big.

A big nutshell.

That's when I realized I haven't posted anything about it here.  Why?  I don't know.  It was so all-encompasing, and it still is.  But sometimes in the craziness of something, you just don't sit down and write about it.

I had a baby.

No, not really.  That made you sit up though, didn't it?

Chris and I have become church planters.  To people who don't attend church, this is a weird and confusing term.  What is that?  Basically, we, along with another couple, have spearheaded a new church here in town.

They have to start somehow, right?  And that term is actually called "church planting".

Why?  Because we felt the call on our hearts.  That simple.

We actually had more opportunities to move and pastor other churches.  There was a church in Lethbridge that Chris was in contact with, and another church in Canmore that called Chris.  But Cochrane is home.  We had support here from our old church, and I have family here.

Cochrane has many churches.  The call on our hearts was a reformed church, and a family integrated church.  What does that mean?  If you feel like reading up on it, Chris made a great post explaining reformed so much better than I can on his Sola Ministries blog.  Family integrated means basically that the family stays together.  We don't have the kids pulled out during service.  They stay, learn, and worship as a family.  We have small discussion times where families can talk about what the service was about.  We encourage families to learn together, at church and all week long.  We want parents involved with their kids, rather than pulled apart.  Really, it's different.

We've learned that many people don't like different.

Are we better than anyone else?  Do we think highly of ourselves?  Are we the only ones who know the one right way to set up a church?

No.  We are different.  That's all.  We are an option for families looking for this kind of church.

We are doing what we can to follow where God leads us.

We work so hard at this.  We put in sweat and more than a few tears.  We've learned how many people don't like things that are "different".  We've learned many lessons so far, many of which I wish I had never had to learn, and I'm sure the road ahead has just as many.

It's hard.  How do you blog about something that you know in your heart is what God wants you to do, but people around you are cutting you down for?

I guess you just sit down and write...

So now it's officially on the blog.  You are all in my loop.

Hill Country Church meets at Spray Lakes Rec Center.  We have Guy's bring up coffee at 10, and we start service at 10:30.  http://hillcountrychurch.ca/Hill_Country_Church/Home.html

Christ out of the pulpit and the church

The times we are in cause us to be apathetic and focused on the wrong things at our buildings. This is leaving the body both superficial and unfulfilled in anything but the world. I have found that churches are having a tendecy to limit the message of God. Focus on tradition instead of the bible. Recent experience has had preachers travel and not only sit for a hour before speaking but within fifteen mintues being signaled to from the pews that time is up, so that they could then continue to finish routine and go home for lunch. Christian brothers and sisters it is time to get off the couch, away from our comfortable seats and seek after, study and call out to our Lord and Savior, we need to stop apathy and start living for him as his slaves. We are bought by his blood lets start living like it and not for ourselves

Christless Preachers (Mark Driscoll)

This type of post has got me into hot water before, because for some strange reason there are some that believe everything I post is a direct attack against some church or someone in particular.  Let me assure you, it's not.  Generally I find things like this and see the trend in our own communities of faith.  It is here to make people think, to discuss, to celebrate, to encourage.  This post rings true in my own life as making Jesus a priority everyday for the sake of knowing Him and not USING Him is a struggle, as I battle the flesh everyday, as I need to remind myself "It's NOT ABOUT ME!"

Have a listen.

Real Marriage "Too young to date?" Mark Driscoll

This is Mark Driscoll.  He is one of the author's of our upcoming marriage course in January, his wife Grace being the other.  For those of you that have no idea who Mark Driscoll is, this little clip will give you a good idea as to who he is and how he operates.  While looking nothing like your traditional pastor, he is very biblical and straightforward in his presentation of difficult topics.  Enjoy.

We are currently in negotiation with a couple of different sites for our course, and when we have the location we'll settle on the rest of the details.  We are super excited about this course as it should bless many couples.  If you would like more information with regards to Real Marriage, please contact me at hillcountryreformed@gmail.com, or call us at 403-932-0519.

Merry Christmas!

Wretched: Tim Tebow is a class act.

Christmas service this Sunday!!

Hill Country Church will be doing our Christmas service this upcoming Sunday at Spray Lakes Family Rec. Center.  There will be Christmas music and plenty of scripture reading as we go through the gospel message.  We will also be providing small packages on ways to make Christmas morning a special one as we won't be having a service on the 25th.  The complex is also closed January 1, so there won't be a service that Sunday either.  We will be moving into the Senior's complex at the Rec. Center January 8th.

Come and celebrate the coming of the Lord Sunday, Dec. 18th.  Guy's Coffee will be served from 10-10:30am, service will begin at 10:30.  Hope to see you there.

Christmas blues

I don't know if I've ever written this for public consumption before, but I'm prone to depression.  My last major bout of depression happened 5 years ago, and since then I've been able to keep my depression to extended periods of being in a bad mood.  This last few weeks has been really tough.  Without having gone through the extremes of the lowly depths of depression before, I may have slipped back into an ugly spell, but because of that last bout all those years ago I was able to recognize the signs and hold on tight to those that I love the most (namely Christ, my wife and my boys), instead of running away.  Being a firefighter we sometimes get called to emergencies that involve suicides, and we all know that this time of year things pick up a little in that department.  What is it?  The Christmas blues?  Some say that it's because this is the time of year that people are supposed to be the happiest yet we all stress out over things like shopping, getting the 'right' gifts, how we're going to pay for said gifts, organizing Christmas and get-together's with family and friends, etc.

My wife sent me an email today with a list of all the things we need to get accomplished before...SUNDAY!  It still makes me shake a little.  And this is supposed to be the wonderful Christmas season.  Ugh.

How do we get through these doldrums?  Some say put some Bailey's in your coffee.  Others say "Suck it up!" Yet others say "Just keep your head down, butt up and keep plugging."  But what happens when you don't want to do any of those things?  What if all you really want to do is curl up in the corner of the room sucking your thumb? (not that I've ever wanted to do that...).

I've come to the realization that not everything is depression.  Sometimes life just feels kind of...blah.  What do we do in this condition?  I've learned that running from it is the worst thing to do.  I now run home instead of running away from home.  I run to my wife and not away from her.  I run to my kids and not away from them, for they bring me joy.  I serve others and take the focus off myself, I read the scriptures and see the goodness of God in them.  I find that self-pity and being alone to mope around feeling sorry for myself is the exact opposite of helpful.  Finally, I be honest with myself and those around me that care about me.  Am I struggling today?  Yes.  Do I hate life today?  Maybe a little.  Will I get through it?  Absolutely.  How do I know?  Because He makes me strong when I am weak.

Pray for us as we attempt to get everything done by Sunday!!!

Upcoming Marriage Course!

Starting January 20th, Hill Country Church will be sponsoring a marriage course written by Pastor Mark Driscoll and his wife Grace titled "Real Marriage".  Below is a link from one of Dr. Voddie Baucham's messages on marriage that captures a little of what we can expect from Driscoll.  Enjoy.

If you would like more information on our upcoming course (for those married or thinking of getting married), please visit our facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/events/144099645692946/

If you're in the area, tomorrow morning (Sunday) Dr. Frankie Rainey will be preaching on John 3:11-15.  Come and visit us.

Wretched: How Dare the Duggars!

Wretched: The Leader of the Third Awakening.

Wretched: The Faith of Justin Bieber.

Sorry, this video has been removed from youtube.  I'm not sure why.  It simply was using a brief interview with Justin Bieber where Bieber says he's down with Jesus, but he doesn't push it in people's faces, he keeps it private.  The ugly mug above is an atheist who says he has no respect for Christians that don't share their faith because you "really have to hate someone to not share in the fact that those that are not Christians will end up in hell."  The comparison made was that of JB, a Christian, not sharing his faith, yet here's an atheist who understands that it has to be inherently evil of someone who is a Christian to NOT share it. As was pointed out by N.W., maybe Justin does share his faith and that the interview caught him off guard.  Good point.

Repentance and discipline

I repent.  I repent of my anger towards others and my unwillingness to forgive those that have wronged me.  I allowed my anger to become a festering thing that has directly affected my walk with Christ, and with my family.  I have become a toxic person.  This is not good.  Lord forgive me for my hard-heartedness, for my stiff-neckedness, and my vitriol I had for others.

Luke 6:37b "Forgive, and you will be forgiven."  I must always keep in mind that the trespasses I receive are but extremely minor in comparison to my trespasses against a Just and Holy God, yet He saved me when I was still a sinner (Romans 5:8).  I cannot walk with Him while I have hatred in my heart.  Today I place this at the foot of the cross.

While I have been struggling for weeks (months) with these issues, it took a good friend and brother to discipline me, to bring me to my selfishness and self-righteousness and to understand that my holding on to my wrath for those that have wronged me was preventing my from advancing the Kingdom for His name's sake; no matter how hard I tried to hide it from others.  Thanks M.R.  God bless you.  Discipline in brotherly love is vital to the church.  Without those that are brave enough and care enough to correct us when we need it, our church body becomes nothing but a country club.  I thank those that love me enough to correct me when I'm out of line.

To those out there that are struggling with similar issues, find the root of your issues, and repent for your part in them.  Place them at the foot of the cross, forgive your trespassers as God has forgiven you for yours.

Take Heed (Tabletalk Magazine December 2011)

Bernard of Clairvaux once mentioned an old man who—upon hearing about any professing Christian who fell into sin—would say to himself, “He fell today; I may fall tomorrow.” The apostle Paul commended the same mindset when he wrote, “let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12). There is great wisdom in not trusting our own ability to stand. When I was a boy my father would often say, “The person I trust least of all is myself.” It should shock us to hear a professing Christian say, “I would never do that,” or “How could anyone do that?” The Scriptures record great sins of unbelievers and believers alike to instruct us in diverse ways. The former teach the unregenerate their need for the new birth. The latter teach the saints their need to distrust themselves. It is one thing to understand the sinful actions of unbelievers in Scripture; it is quite another to understand the sins of the saints. Consider the following:

If an innocent man could choose a piece of fruit over the infinitely valuable God (Genesis 3:6); If the most righteous man of his day could get so drunk that he passed out naked before his sons in his tent (Gen. 9:21); If the most faithful man of his day could father a child with his wife’s handmaiden (Gen. 16:1-4); If he could hand his wife over to other men–twice! (Gen. 12:11-15; 20:1-2); If the mother of promise could laugh at the words of the God of promise—and then lie to Him about doing so—(Gen. 18:9-15); If “righteous Lot” could greedily pick the most materialistic and sexually depraved place for he and his family to live (Gen. 13:8-13); if he could hand his daughters over to the sexually perverse men of the city (Gen. 19:4-8); if the son of promise could show partiality to his oldest son because he liked his hunting skills (Gen. 25:28); if he too could hand his wife over to another man (Gen. 26:6-11); if the namesake of Israel could swindle his brother for a birthright (Gen. 25:29-34)…so could I.

If the meekest man on the planet could act in such sinful anger and unbelief that God would not let him into the promised Land (Numbers 20:7-12); If his successor could disobediently covenant with pagans (Joshua 9); if two of Israel’s greatest judges could, in unbelief, doubt the immediate promises of God (Judges 4; 11); If the mighty man of valor could fall into idolatry at the end of his life (Judges 8:22-27); If the strongest man who ever lived could be defeated by wine and women (Judges 14-16)…so could I.

If the man after God’s own heart could commit adultery and premeditated the murder of one of his mighty men (2 Samuel 11); if the wisest man could foolishly allow his heart to be led astray by a thousand women to worship foreign gods (1 Kings 11); If the weeping prophet could charge God with deceiving His people (Jeremiah 4:10); if his penman could seek fame for helping him write his book (45:5); If the most evangelistically used Old Testament prophet could self-righteously run from the mission of God (Jonah 1-3)…so could I.

If the forerunner of Christ could doubt the identity of the One to whom he bore witness (Matthew 11:2-3); if the apostle Peter could try to stop Jesus from going to the cross (Matt. 16:21-23); could deny Jesus (Luke 22:54-61); could argue with the Lord about the Gospel and its implications (John 13:6-10; Acts 10:9-16); and, could support a division in the church over the doctrine of justification by faith alone (Galatians 2:11-21); if James and John could use Jesus to get to the top (Mark 10:35-37); if they could want to call fire down from heaven on those who did not believe the Gospel (Luke 9:51-55); and if the apostle John could fall down to worship Angels–twice! (Revelation 19:9-10; 22:8-9)…so could I!

We must resist the temptation of thinking we can stand in our own strength. We must depend on the grace of the One who said, “Apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). If we fall, we must go to Christ—confessing our sin and hoping in His mercy. The Scriptures declare: “The righteous fallsseven times and rises again” (Prov. 24:16). To fall seven times means that you have been restored six. The greatest believers are subject to great weaknesses. In no way do these truths give a license to sin; instead, they give a sober realization that “nothing good dwells in us.” We must distrust ourselves, bear with the weak, and hold fast to Christ. We must flee to our great High Priest, who was tempted in all points as we are—yet without sin. We must go to Him for grace and mercy to withstand temptations; and we must go to Him for grace and mercy if we fall. Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses…let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.”

Nicholas T. Batzig

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Rev. Nicholas T. Batzig is the organizing pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church. Nick grew up on St. Simons Island, Ga. In 2001 he moved to Greenville, SC where he met his wife Anna, and attended Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. In 2007 Nick and Anna had their first son, Micah Gersham Batzig. The Batzigs then moved to Philadelphia where Nick was an intern atTenth Presbyterian Church. Nick and Anna had their second son, Elijah Alexander Batzig, while in Philadelphia. In November of 2008 Nick accepted the call to be the organizing pastor of the Richmond Hill church plant. The Batzigs moved to Richmond Hill in February 2009 to begin the church plant. In July 2010 they had their third son, Judah David Batzig. Currently Nick is working on a Th.M atPuritan Reformed Theological Seminary. The subject of his thesis is “A Covenantal Approach to the Song of Solomon.” (from the New Covenant Presbyterian Church's website)

Gospel of John (3:1-10)

This week we covered the conversation with Nicodemus.  One of the attributes of Christ that was highlighted was His omniscience.  This was an example of Jesus answering all of Nicodemus' questions that he was thinking but didn't ask outright.  Ever notice many times in scripture where Jesus' response has little to nothing to do with what the question or comment was about?  This was a classic example of that.  Jesus got to the heart of what Nicodemus really wanted to know, and that was how to enter the Kingdom of God.  We can see from Jesus' answer that you must be reborn, or born again.  All too often there are those institutionalized Christians that look down their collective noses at "those born-again's, but in reality, without being reborn Spiritually, you are not a Christian at all.  Jesus makes this emphatic in this discourse.  

We also see from Jesus' response that God is sovereign in His selection of the elect.  He likens the Holy Spirit to the wind.  We can call on the wind all day and it may or may not come.  It may come from the east or west, north or south.  We don't know.  We don't control the wind, and we don't control the Holy Spirit.  We are dead in our sins until the Holy Spirit moves in us.  As Jesus says to Nicodemus "You're a teacher of the scriptures and you don't know these things?"  Sharp rebuke.  Too bad there are far too many Christians and pastors that don't understand either.

Pastor Frankie Rainey will be preaching the word next Sunday.  Feel free to join us.

Wretched: Who can we thank for the craziness?

God, Manhood and ministry (John Piper)

Pastor John, from Genesis 2:

This is a call to stoop down and to take the responsibility to be a leader—a servant leader in the various ways that are appropriate to every different relationship to women. It's a call to us men,

that we should take the risk of getting egg on our faces;

that we should pray like we've never prayed for help in this tremendous responsibility;

that we should be in the Word more than we ever have been to know what God expects of us;

that we should plan things more than we do, and be intentional and thoughtful and less carried along by the mood of the moment;

that we should be disciplined and ordered in our lives;

that we should be tender-hearted and sensitive;

that we should take the initiative to make sure that there is a time and a place to talk to her about what needs to be talked about—this "her" could be a friend, a date, a colleague, a wife, a sister;

that we should be ready to lay down our lives in discharging this responsibility to be the leaders God is calling us to be.

Excerpted from Manhood and Womanhood Before Sin (1989).

"I believe all religions are the same."

Where's the reverence? John 2:12-25

This week we covered the last half of John 2.  One of the things that really stood out to me this week was the fact that Jesus messed up the temple, and His reasons for it.

If we look at the Jesus presented in most churches today, we see a Jesus that has long-flowing hair, He is a pretty man, is usually glowing (like He has the most perfect skin), and if He were walking around here on earth today, He'd look closer to Bono than He would a carpenter.  Would it be fair to say the Jesus depicted in most churches today would be a tree-hugging metro-sexual?  Can you picture this Jesus making a whip and clearing out a massive area inside the temple like He did in John 2?  He cleared out the temple...by HIMSELF!  Why?

We can see from Leviticus that the temple had some strict rules and laws regarding the temple and the activities that can go on there.  Clearly making the temple a super-mall was not allowed, yet due to the fact that the Jewish nation hadn't heard from God since Malachi 400 years earlier, they had become very complacent and irreverent towards God and His temple.  Jesus comes, sees this gong-show, and is righteously angry.  What does He do?  He makes a whip and uses it.  This brings me to the point for our churches today.

If Jesus can get angry and clear out the temple, why do our churches discourage men and women from having righteous emotion?  Why do men in church today confuse meekness for keeping the peace?  I would argue that most men in the church today are closer to Ned Flanders than the apostle Paul, or Christ Himself.  Is this the picture we have for Christians?  Christians are allowed to cry in church (especially men), they are allowed to be happy, but whatever you do, don't be angry, that's not allowed.

The second point is how many times do we go to church with an irreverent attitude?  This was what Jesus was so angry about.  Do we think that somehow because we're part of the church it's somehow OK to walk in the doors of a church and do so with casual observance?  Why do we go to church?  Is it for fellowship?  The coffee?  The entertainment (God forbid!)? Lord help us if we use the church for business contacts...oi!  We are to go to church to praise God, to worship God, to give glory to God!  If we don't do this with the right heart condition, why would the Holy Spirit ever move in a place that treats God so casually?

Three questions to ponder this week.

a.      How have you come to church?  Do you have reverence for Him?

b.      What role do emotions play in the Christian life?

c.       What would it take for you to give up Christ?

Really... Not Emotional?

Wretched: Oh the Hypocrisy!

These types of arrests have been going on in Western Europe for quite some time now, and getting worse, likewise, the U.S. is getting into the same sort of silliness.  Is Canada far behind?  I doubt it.  As Todd Friel would say, "Go serve your King."

Christianity for the living, not the dead (Luther's 95)

8. The penitential canons apply only to men who are still alive, and, according to the canons themselves, none applies to the dead.


There was thought in the Roman church that indulgences and penitence could be applied to those in purgatory; hence the selling of indulgences to people that lost loved ones.  Luther's point here was that those canons (penitential) applied only to those that were still alive.  There are those out there today (even some in the Roman church) that still believe that what happens here on earth can still affect those that have passed.  This is not applied to just the Roman church, as Mormons (LDS) believe strongly in works for the dead.  Baptism for the dead and acceptance of Christ (post-mortem) is all commonplace within those ranks.

This was not just a mistake made in recent times, but even as we see Jesus challenged by the Pharisees with the question of the woman that had 7 husbands.  The question was posed "Whose wife is she in heaven?"  This idea that what things are on earth will be done likewise in heaven, like somehow someone else can do for you what you didn't.  This is nonsense.  Things here are different than what they will be in heaven (thanks be to God for that!)


Everyone here on earth will be answerable for their actions (or lack of).  No one can come in after you to "do your works for you".  No one here can pay for your sins (except the perfect sacrifice of Christ), no one can get baptized for you, no one can 'accept' Christ on your behalf.


Christianity and the message of Christ is for the living, not the dead. (Matt. 22:32)


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Join us this Sunday as we continue chapter 2 in the book of John.  We meet at Spray Lakes Sawmills Family Rec. Centre.  Coffee is served at 10, service at 10:30am.  We are a family-integrated church, so bring your family and worship together for His glory.

Wretched: Simply Wicked.

R.C. Sproul on God's Glory in Judgment

Follow the money (not the logic)

Let's do a little exercise shall we?  Ready?  Count the amount of money spent on all things youth and children related in your church.  Include youth pastors, children's ministers, programs, buildings, etc.  Absolutely everything that is child or youth related throughout the year.

Got the number?  Good.

Now count up the amount of money that is put towards the men in the church.  Men's ministry, men's retreats, conferences aimed at men...everything.  Got the number?  Alright.  What's the difference?

If you're like 99% of most churches, your first number is in the tens to hundreds of thousands a year.  Your second number, if there is one, is very tiny.  A couple thousand tops...right?  Now why am I bringing this up?  Good question.

Statistics show that when children of a non-Christian family are converted, only 10% of the time do the rest of the family follow suit.  When the mothers are the first to convert, the number jumps to a 40% success rate for the rest of the family.  The men?  If the man converts, the rest of the family converts 90% of the time.

Money, meet logic.  Logic, meet money.

Considering the other scary statistic is that there is virtually NO DIFFERENCE in divorce rate between the evangelical church and the secular society.  I wonder if that money could be better spent elsewhere...

God: The Almighty One

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God.  (Genesis 17:1)

As of late I have been going through A.W Tozer's book, "The Attributes of God".  How desperately we need to learn once again the glorious nature of our God in North America.  In his chapter on God's omnipotence he posed the question, "Are some things harder for God than other things?"  While in my mind I know that answer must be "No!", for if it was not so God would not be Almighty or All powerful (which of course is what Omnipotent means- Omni is Latin for "All" and Potent it Latin for "Powerful" or "Able").  But even as I know I must answer, "No, some things are not more difficult for Him to do than others".  I find in myself doubt, or perhaps it is more that I really don't apply this in my thinking as I face various struggles, trials and opposition.  While I know it must be true, my actions, fears, anxieties, complaining, questioning often say I really don't grasp God as the Almighty One.

I encourage you to come before God and ask Him, by His Holy Spirit, to teach you this about Himself.  As people who talk about the Sovereignty of God and placing our trust in Him, how often do our words, and thoughts, and actions really reflect that kind of knowledge of God?  Not simply a head knowledge, but an assurance in our heart.  For, if we truly believe that our God is able and mighty to save, then should we not be the most confident, patient, and gracious people on the planet?  Should we not display the fruit of true love, wrought by the Spirit of Christ, which bears all things, hopes all things, endures all things and believes all things? (1 Corinthians 13:7).  Dear Christian, I pray that you catch a fresh vision of God the Almighty One and that in Him you too might find rest for your souls, bread and water for your sustenance.

Tozer wrote this about God's Almighty Nature,

His is an effortless power, because effort means I’m expending energy, but when God works, He doesn’t expend energy. He is energy! With effortless power, God did and is doing His redeeming work. We stand in awe and speak in hushed tones of His incarnation. How could it be that the great God Almighty could be conceived in the womb of a virgin? I don’t know how it could be, but I know that the Great God who is omnipotent, the Great God Almighty, could do it if He wanted to. The incarnation was easy for God. It may be hard for us to understand—a mystery of godliness—but it is not hard for God.

I appeal to you—dare to believe that the Lord God omnipotent lives and with Him nothing shall be impossible. He has all the power there is. Your need is nothing compared with the great things that God has done. And yet God pardons your sin and cleanses your spirit and gives you His nature, just as easily as He makes the heaven and the earth, because God is God!

Submission to church authority (Luther's 95)

7. God never remits guilt to anyone without, at the same time, making him humbly submissive to the priest, His representative.


While I may not go so far as Luther did here in point #7, there is something to what he's saying.  After all, Luther didn't submit to his superiors when commanded to repent of his writings did he?  So what did he mean?


When one is reborn, he is filled with the Holy Spirit.  Calvin called this irresistible grace.  When God quickens our spirit from the dead, we see Him as He is and we come to understand our own wretchedness and His goodness and grace.  At this point we come to repentance and faith.  This comes with it a heart of contrition, we come to God humbly and broken.  This manifests itself in finding the local church and submitting to the authority of the church, provided the church is in fact a biblical church and is lead by biblical leaders.  Once one is found (church), then the reborn person comes under the spiritual authority of the elders of the church, for their benefit.  


I am reminded of our radical individualism in our society today.  When the church doesn't do what we want them to do (whether biblical or not), we have a tendency to just leave.  We can call it 'church shopping'.  When we find a church that seems to be where God is leading us, we join, tithe, give our time and efforts; that is until the church sees things different than we do.  I once had a gentleman from our church body tell me that if the new pastor didn't allow him to do some outreach activity on Halloween that he wanted to do, he would leave the church.  I was floored.  How can someone think so little of their Elder that they would leave over such nonsense?  There are times where you must break away from a church body (biblically), but all too often the reasons for people leaving their church body are for very selfish reasons and have nothing to do with reasons spelled out in scripture.  They simply refuse to come under the authority of the elder(s) of the church, no matter how biblical they may be.

I have some consternation about an elder (priest, pastor, etc) being labelled God's representative.  Maybe it's accurate, but I'm not in favour of the label.  I'm far too fallen a man to be given that kind of title.  Men are put in positions of leadership, an undershepherd of the flock if you will, but not His representative.  People that are reborn must come under the authority of elders, and to not submit to any authority here on earth is to stand firm in their own authority which is against everything a 'reborn' person would or should do.  There is nothing humbling about 'church shopping'.

180 The Movie

I have posted this once, but will do so a few more times as we try to get the message out.

Share this movie.

Gospel of John 1:43-51

Dr. Oz Lorentzen gave the message this past Sunday, and wrapped up chapter 1 for us very nicely.  I will endeavor to give the highlights of his sermon.

Jesus gives an invitation to the disciples to "follow me."  Jesus gives all of humanity that same message.  The meaning goes deeper and further with the changing of Simon's name to Cephas (or Peter, which means "the rock").  We know from the gospel's that Peter was anything but a 'rock'.  He was impetuous, flighty, obnoxious; all in his attempts to be a leader, especially one named 'the rock'.  It wasn't until much later (after the resurrection) that Peter began to act what God had already made him.  We too, that have been called to trust our Lord and Saviour have moments (some lasting years) where we do not act as a child of God.  We do not act holy.  This isn't because we're not holy, but because we have trouble believing that we ARE holy in Christ.  When we doubt our calling, when we doubt our ability to be what God has called us to be, we are in essence saying that we doubt God's word.  

Nathaniel, who was not one to be convinced easily, originally rebuffed Jesus' words of truth about Nathaniel.  He said to Nathaniel "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit."  Nathaniel was not impressed.  He responded "How do you know me?"  With one line, Jesus convinces him that He is the Son of God, simply by saying "I saw you under the fig tree."  We can look at this as a way of Jesus saying "I've known you all along."  We need to remember that we cannot hide who we are from Christ.  He knows us intimately, yet He died for us anyway.  How humbling.  Jesus tells Nathaniel that he would see heaven opened up and see angels ascend and descend from heaven.  In the gospels, we really didn't see that, so what did it mean?  Jesus was pointing to Himself as the living, breathing version of Jacob's ladder, that He was the link between heaven and earth.

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I will be attempting to put our Sunday sermons on line in the near future, even possibly on this site.  If I manage to get it figured out, feel free to listen and respond if you wish.  This is an interactive site, our authors appreciate any feedback they get, and as you may tell, we have two new writers that have come on board.