07.22.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:20 pm by Perry
There is a song by Casting Crowns titled “Praise You in the Storm” that speaks of how we are to praise God even in the hardest of times. I thought I would like to take a few mintues to share with you all the storm I have been through in the past year and how that effects the way in which I praise God:
Over the past year:
(a) my Mother has tried to commit suicide twice by overdosing; both times nearly suceeding,
(b) I was married (which is good but still a change),
(c) seen my father severely injured and hospitalized for the first time ever twice within two months,
(d) housed my younger brother and sister multiple times for weeks while my Mother was institutionalized,
(e) changed jobs,
(f) maintained a full-time schedule in college,
(g) and moved into a new house.
I don’t mean to label myself as a maryter by any means but by any standards that makes for a hectic year and those are only the main points of the list. I often wonder, how am I to praise God in the storms of this life? Who is He to command us to seek after Him at all times when He continually allows us to undergo such hardships? I often want to scream out to the heavens, “how can you allow this to happen? I can’t take anymore, surely You have no idea what it is to endure such hardships”!
Then I remember the cross. For my salvation and His glory the Lord of the Universe, the Messiah and King of Israel gave his life willingly as the sacrificial lamb to pay the punishment due me for the forgiveness of my sins. I must only think of the atoning death of Jesus the Christ to quickly remember that the cares of this world, the pain, loss, and sorrow, are but passing moments. Surely such trials should not turn us away from worshiping God but instead should drive us closer to Him.
My Father often stoically says that he knows that he is supposed to be learning something from all of these trials and that he must only look to God for leadership and strength. I am continually encouraged by his insight and by the psalmist who re-inforces us to “cast your burdens on the Lord [because] He will sustain you”.
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07.13.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:42 pm by Perry
I have decided that I no longer want to be a Reformed Baptist and am currently trying to find a new denomination to convert to. Here is my current working list with my rationale for switching:
(a) Methodist - Doctrine never really mattered that much anyway.
(b) Episcopal - If Joel Osteen can be a pastor, why not allow women and homosexuals to be also?
(c) Catholic - I’ve always been a hard worker, why not work hard for my salvation also?
(d) Presbyterian - Mother, Child, Womb, ingenious!!!
(e) Pentecostal - I have always wanted to learn a foreign language.
(f) Charismatic - I do like rock concerts and serving punch and cookies.
(g) Seventh Day Adventist - I rather like sleeping in on Sundays.
(h) Mormon - Who wants one wife when you can have five?
(i) Amish - I do look good in black.
(h) Jehovah’s Witness - Three in one, what is that all about?
Finally,
(j) Freewill Baptists - I do pride myself on making good decisions.
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07.03.06
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:15 am by Perry
The following is a sermon delivered by Pastor Paul Orrick at First Baptist Church (SBC) on Sunday July 2, 2006 regarding the role of women in the church:
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“I desire therefore that the men pray everywhere, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and doubting; in like manner also, that the women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with propriety and moderation, not with braided hair or gold or pearls or costly clothing, but, which is proper for women professing godliness, with good works. Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression”. 1 Timothy 2:8-14
The title and text of this message suggests a strange thing: Silent Preachers. Imagine that; one entire group of the Christian assembly is ordered to “learn in silence” and in doing so they will remind us of a very important part of the Gospel message.
1. How do Baptists understand this passage and how do we put it into practice?
2. Many in the Christian community today have obviously moved away from what Paul has written; How did that happen?
3. How does correct behavior in this matter aid in Gospel Preaching?
What Do Baptist Do With 1 Timothy 2:11-12
Before I go any further I want to praise Baptist women for all that they do and have done. There are multitudes of small Baptist churches around the world which remain alive through the faithfulness of our women. They have taken up the cross where men have allowed it to fall. They have carried burdens that men would not pick up. They have born the heat of the day and dark of night to see to it that churches remainen open Sunday after Sunday. Where would Baptists be without our godly women.
The following are general rules found among most Baptists today:
-Baptists do not ordain women into the ministry. Our men conduct all of the activities of the public worship service. Baptists do allow women to ask questions in meetings designed for that purpose. At the same time, we oppose anyone of any gender who has a bitter spirit of debate or anger.
- Baptists do allow women to hold general offices in church such as church clerk, treasurer, Sunday school teacher. We do not, however, install women as teachers of men’s classes.
- Southern Baptist women are especially involved in the work of our foreign missionaries. Through our “Woman’s Missionary Union” our women keep us informed and involved in missions.
1 Timothy 2:11-12 teaches us that there is a special place in the church for both men and women. Men are to always take the lead and are held accountable to God to do so. Baptists do not ordain women into the ministry because the Bible instructs us that Women are not to “ …. teach or to have authority over a man….”
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God instituted this order in the church to
bring home an important Gospel principle.
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A History Of Change
The church has not always struggled with the issue of what their women should or should not do in the public assembly. For centuries all Christians understood this passage to say exactly what it says. Change began in the late 1600’s with the Quakers. Before this time, all denominations agreed that 1 Timothy 2 should be read in church and observed. The first woman preacher was the Quaker, Elizabeth Hooten. The Pentecostal movement brought about the widest change of all in this matter. Pentecostals ignore 1 Timothy 2:11-12 on the grounds that, according to them, God has installed a new way for a new day. Liberal churches today have not only abandoned 1 Timothy 2:11-12, but a whole host of other New Testament passages. Most Baptists are happy to be called “Bible Believers”. We still believe that there is an order which we should follow in our public worship and that in doing so we preserve the Gospel.
Why Do Baptist Women Remain Silent In Public Worship?
- Is it because we believe that women are inferior and cannot teach? Absolutely not. We know that women are intelligent. We know that they can teach and do so well. All of us owe a large part of our secular and spiritual education to women.
- Is it because we believe that men are more important than women? Absolutely not. We believe that we are all the children of God through Christ Jesus. This is exactly what we are taught in Holy Scripture: “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:27-28
Why then do Baptist women remain silent in public worship?
- Our Women Remain Silent in The Public Assembly Because the church is God’s House and He has told us how to behave in His house.
When my children were young they had special instruction on how to behave in other people’s homes. In their own home they could run and play at will, but there was another set of rules when we were guests in other homes. They were also clearly instructed that “Church” is God’s House, not their own.
My sister-in-law, Irene, has a beautiful antique love seat in her living room. It looks inviting, but there is a small ribbon stretching across it telling everyone that it is not there to be set on. When visiting Irene’s home everyone knows what the rule is and everyone respects that rule because it is not their house or their furniture.
Now listen to the Word of God: — “ … I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. 1 Timothy 3:14-15
This is a very important passage. It tells us, in the clearest of language, that the church is God’s house and there are rules of behavior attached to the public worship which takes place in God’s House. One of those rules is this: “Let a woman learn in silence with all submission. And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence” – 1 Timothy
- Our Women Remain Silent in The Public Assembly Because in doing so they are reminding us of an important part of the Gospel Message
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Everything you see in a Baptist church
reflects the central message that we preach.
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The Pulpit, the Communion Table, the Baptistery, all are in place to preach the message of salvation by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ. The same is true of our silent women. In their silence they are preaching a very important part of the Gospel of Grace. They are reminding us that the first woman SPOKE when she should have been silent; QUESTIONED when she should have believed; LED when she should have been following.
1. When Satan came to Eve she should have turned away from him without a word, but instead she engaged in conversation with him.
2. When her eyes saw that the forbidden fruit was beautiful Eve should have ignored her eyes and believed God, but she followed her senses and questioned the truth of God’s Word.
3. When she should have been following the God established pattern Eve chose to lead Adam rather than follow the Word of God.
At the end of the Day Adam followed his wife into sin and thus we have all been plunged into separation from God. — “For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.” 1 Tim 2:13-14
Today, In Baptist churches around the world, our women will be in the pews and not in the pulpits. Their silence in our assemblies will loudly proclaim that in the beginning Eve took the lead and it resulted in the fatal sin.
The modern world will not understand why we do what we do. This should not surprise us since the Bible says, — “ … the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:14
Our godly women will, no doubt, be ridiculed and laughed at for following the New Testament pattern. This should not surprise us because Jesus said, — “If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you”. John 15:19
Sad to say, the Gospel is continually rejected by the multitudes, even when it is delivered by our “Silent Preachers”
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I thought this sermon was especially important to share with others in lieu of the move by our modern churches away from orthodoxy. The Episcopalian church recently elected a woman as their head Bishop and had also ordained homosexuals into the church despite the Bible’s clear stance against homosexuality as an abomination and grave sin (1 Corinthians 6:9). This decision was followed by the Presbyterians approving to allow local churches to hire homosexual ministers.
As if this were not enough the Presbyterians decided that the Holy Trinity as it is written is scripture, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, is not in touch with modern times and can be replaced with more gender neutral names such as “Mother, Child and Womb”, “Lover, Loved, and Love” and “Rock, Redeemer, and Friend”. God clearly states throughout the scripture a deep concern for the sanctity for His name and that he will not forgive those who misuse His name but it seems God’s commands fall short of the needs of gender neutrality in these modern times.
The move away from orthodoxy is not simply a modern emergence though relating to church ordinances on homosexuality and the ordination of women; it dates back to Gnosticism, the emergence of Arminianism, Pentecostalism, a works based salvation from the Catholic Church and Dispensational doctrine. Every Sunday ignorant pastors stand in the pulpit proudly declaring the man’s will trumps God’s and that a person’s salvation is a result of their own good works and move toward God. Cherished biblical doctrines such as the eternal security, election, and man’s total depravity have been cast aside for more friendly, all inclusive doctrines.
Forgive me for being bold but I declare a reformation is long overdue. The church needs to stop being concerned with number and turn its eyes towards biblical truth. My prediction is that a concern for the number of monthly baptisms is driving the move away from Biblical orthodoxy but I can’t help but remember how Jesus the Christ accused the Scribes and Pharisees:
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves” - Matthew 23:15
We can travel across the globe bringing in large numbers of converts but if we are reaching them with a gospel that lacks orthodox doctrine and truth than they will be no more than seeds scattered on rocky ground (Matthew 13:5).
Besides, Jesus wasn’t concerned only with numbers, He was concerned with representation:
“This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all the nations, and then the end will come.” - Matthew 24:14
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