Hey, I am reading Robert Shank's book entitled "Life in the Son". I will be studying chapters four, five, and six this week. Chapter 4 is entitled: "Can Eternal Life be Forfeited"?, Chapter Five, " What Saith the Scriptures?" and Chapter Six, "Shall Never Thirst." Should spark some discussion this week. God Bless
In chapter four titled "Can Eternal Life Be Forfeited?" Bro. Shank defines "perseverance" as "once in grace always in grace", or as he calls it "unconditional security". So can eternal life be forfeited? Bro. Shank uses the parable of the sower to argue this point. The sower went to sow. Jesus explains; Matt. 13:20 "But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon(immediately) with joy receiveth it." Matt. 13:21 " Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended". So can eternal life be lost? If not what does rededication mean?
Roger, one of the things that impressed me most from this book is the discussion of conditional security and opposed to undonditional security. The rest of the book discusses the "bottom line" condition.
As for rededication, my take on that could work in two ways: One would be that if a person grows slack in their commitment, they need to renew therr dedication. That would not necessarily mean they are lost--just in need of getting serious again about serving.
The second, of course, would be where a person seemed to have the claim of the condition for salvation and then they didn't have that claim. In that case, they would need to again express their acceptance of that condition. That would be a re-dedication.
The claim that salvation is conditional does not, however, remove the idea that salvation is by grace through faith. (Hint to Sean and Tyler, whose curiosity may be piqued by this, the "condition" for salvation is mentioned in Ephesians 2:8,9.
In Revalation 3:5, Jesus tells the church at Sardis that, if they straiten up, He will not "blot out his name from the book of life." Does this mean that Jesus will "blot us out" if we fall away? I have been taught all my life that we can lose our salvation. Another verse that comes to mind is Hebrews 10:26. In order to keep people from falling away, we need to spend as much time as possible to disciple them that we can.
This subject itself is one that seems to seperate Christians. A person can say its one way by quoting a certain scripture, and another can do the same to argue it. No one has been able to completely prove it one way or the other. Which makes me picture Satan sitting back and laughing because it seperates us. I try to remember Jesus saying the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart and soul, and your neighbor the same as yourself. And that all the rest hangs on this. I guess when I think about it after reading that, I conclude that if we are worried about justifying our salvation, something else is amiss. I know everyone has thought about this in one way or another, and I might be off track in the direction this discussion was going, its just what I think of on the subject of once saved always saved.
Bro. Roger will know what I am going to say here when I mention Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.
[Talking about salvation], he used to say, "Well, some say you can get it and lose it. Others say you can get it and not be able to lose it. (Pause)
"What I want to know is; 'Do you have it?'"
To me, the issue is more important whether salvation is conditional or uncoditional than some of the other discussions along this line. I believe Bro. Shank makes a compelling case that it is conditional.
Good posts, guys. Sean, I agree with you one hundred percent. There are some other subjects that separate christians as well. I am not going to get into those. I would like to see more unity between believers. Surely there is more we agree on than what we disagree on.
I'm not sure what your meaning conditional or uncondtional? I would have to say that being saved is conditional because you do have to "do"(believe) something to receive it. But I've also heard that God's love is uncondtional. Can a person believe, and then not believe?
About a person believing and not believing, that is a debate, but it would seem possible. And, yes, Sean, believing (saving faith) is the contition.
My point is that assurance is only for believers, regardless of what it may have looked like what a person did in the past. If it looked like a person believed, and later he rejects the idea of salvation and outright rejects Christ as savior, I would say that it is a dangerous thing to try to say that he is O.K.
Well guys I think the security is conditional. Bro. Shank uses "John 15:1-5". If we abide in him(Christ) then he will abide in us. This sounds like a work in progress or am I not getting the idea here.
I think so too. I cant think of any particular scripture to back this thought, but in reading the Bible and other commentaries I think that God wants a relationship with us. And the only way it can be real is to let us choose. So if by the time our last breath comes we are choosing to have nothing to do with Him, He only gives us what we want. Now that still leaves open the debate on what "believing" is at that time. That is only God's decision, and when I think about that, I think about when God was going to punish Israel for Davids mistake and David has God choose the outcome, because he knew who would be more merciful. Why would you not want to believe in a God like that.
In chapter five, Bro. Shank quotes this passage of scripture,John 10:28,29,"Jesus said,I give unto them eternal life:and they shall never perish,neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me,is greater than all;and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand". This is probably the most used passage that supports eternal security, and to some extent sounds logical, but what's to say that in our own fleshly, self-loving way we turn our back to God. Would we still be secure? I'm sure God would still love us, but in my opinion we in fact have plucked ourselves out of God's hand. Food for thought, have a blessed night.
Bro. Shank does two things: He gives grounds for increased assurance, but then he clarifies passages like what was mentioned. He does remind us our assurance of being In Christ. If we don't have a basis for saying we are in Christ, we don't hav a basis for assurance.
You will notice some posts below that relate to various topics of discussion by our online community of preachers.
One of the purposes of Preachers' Meeting is to provide a place for young ministers or those recently called to preach to interact around the principles in a course of study recommended by our local group of preachers in the Southern Illinois area.
We invite you to look in on our conversations. If you would like to add comments as a guest, you are welcome to do so. If this looks interesting to you, you may join us as we start a new session. You can look in the side bar (or sometimes it is moved to right below this post) to see the weekly requirements. We start new courses every 8 or 9 weeks. As already mentioned, you are welcome to comment as a guest before that time.
Below these posts, you will see the word, "comments." Just click on it, and you will see a box on the right side of the screen where you may add your comments.
Look around. Enjoy yourself, and come back often!
Weekly Requirements
Here is a review of the general requirements for each week.
You have three assignments each week
(1) Make at least two initial posts in your posting area. The first one will be the name of the course, and the names (or numbers of the DVD's) of the chapters or lectures you will be covering during the week. The second one will be a comment on one of those chapters. You will receive one point for getting the first post in on Tuesday or Wednesday. You will also get a point for getting at least one more initial post in.
(2) Go to your fellow student's posting areas, and ask them a question or make comments about their intial posts. You will recieve one point for completing this assignment before 12:00 a.m. on Friday morning (that would be before midnight on Thursday).
(3) Answer the questions asked.
(4) On Fridays, I will also give directions for making remaining posts during the week. Be sure and read those, and take them into account when making at least one of your remaining posts.
In all, we want to make at least nine posts during the week. You will receive points for that as follows:
9 or more posts - 12 points
6-8 posts - 10 points
3-5 posts - 6 points
1-2 posts - 3 points
You will have the extra points you had accumulated by getting things in on time. Those are bonus points that will be used only to move your grade closer to 100 if you need them. They will be awarded each week if needed to move your grade up to 12 for the week. If you do not need them for that week, they will be carried over to the next week(s). Remember the posts that count for points will be at least three sentences long.
Thoughts on Application
Roger gave some good thoughts on application:
"Chapter 75, titled: 'Apply Within' is a lesson in application. The writer explains why it is sometimes difficult applying a sermon to real life situations. I will list some of the reasons application is not applied to our lives.
"First it is "hard work", it is hard to find application to every situation in the congregation,
"second, is wrong assumptions, assuming the audience is able to apply any and all biblical truths is totally a wrong assumption,
"third, is fear, fear of being to deep or to simplistic in the text and failing at application, and then there is training or lack thereof,
"many preachers know the text, and the history and the order of things but are totally untrained in application. One gentleman said it this way," how can you be a good football player when you can pass the ball, or when you can kick the ball, or when you can run with the ball but you don't know the rules of the game."
If you live in the souther Illinois area, we would like to invite you to a Couples' Marriage Enrichment Seminar on Saturday, February 27. It starts at 6:00 p.m and will run to 9:00 p.m.
After the welcome, there will be a dinner. Then there will be an opening session, followed by two breakout sessions, then a short closing.
The Keynote Speaker is Dr. Randy Carney (That's me :)!) and Roger and Janet Dutton will be speaking during the breakout sessions (That's Roger, who is commenting on this blog during this term!). Randy and Rhonda (my wife!) Carney will also have a breakout session discussing "Keys to Marital Bliss."
The Keynote Address will be on the topic of "The Way to a Successful Marriage: The Shocking and Surprising Truth."
Roger and Janet will be talking about "Hope for Restoring your marriage."
The cost is $15.00 per couple and that includes a dinner and all seminar materials. A nursery and childcare will be available. (Please indicate that you need these services when you register.) A book table with resources from Handfuls on Purpose Christian Bookstore will be available.
The seminar is for couples of all ages, ranging from newlyweds to marriage veterans!
To register, call 618-627-2228 to let the church know how may will be attending. Payment can be made at the event. (Make checks to TFBC.) For more information, call the church at 618-627-2228.
The Greatest Love
Since Valentine's Day falls on Sunday this year, I imagine there will be a ton of sermons going out on the topic of love.
Paul talked about love and respect in marriage (Ephesians 5), but he was really saying that that was an illustration of the relationship between Christ and the church.
Christ
Left Heaven to come to this earth.
He
Overcame adversity while here. He even conquered death!
He
Valued mankind so much that He gave Himself on the cross.
He desires fellowship with us. He reconciled the world to Himself, so that people could have an
Intimate realtionship with Him.
He meets all of our
Needs.
He is the supreme example of
Giving.
Do you see the word, LOVING, there? That is what He is--our LOVING Savior! Because of that, we should love one another.
Course 11 Week 4
Scroll down to the week 4 area to begin commenting.
Dealing with the Closed American Mind
One of the chapters Roger is reading is entitled, (something like) "Dealing with the Closed American Mind." I don't know if it is mentioned in the chapter, but I suspect that if you tak about something where a person has a felt need, you can gain their hearing somewhat.
What are your thoughts?
You may scroll down and comment in the week 3 comments area. Visitors are welcome to comment also.
Connecting with Postmoderns
This is something most preachers do every Sunday. If you have young unchurched visitors in your church, you will be trying to reach postmoderns. Even some of your church youth are more influenced by postmodernism than by their previous Sunday school teaching.
Here is my reply to one of Roger's posts:
"Roger, what tips stand out to you for commecting with postmoderns? I think the term modern referred to an age in history that related to new thoughts in science, etc. (If I am off base, refresh my memory.) Post modern refers to the time following that era. Connecting with postmoderns is something you have to do, whether you realize it or not, almost every time you preach."
I will post some of his answers here if he sees the question in time.
Preaching--Proclamation of God's Word
Preaching, by one definition, is the proclamation of God's Word. As such, a person, can take the Scriptural passage and find some of its main points and emphasize those points.
While I believe we should learn all we can about the grammatical construction of the words of Scripture, and that we should learn all we can about the historical setting for when those words were originally spoken; the nice thing about proclaiming the Word is that you can just take what the text says and emphasize it. Then the Word will not return void.
People with all different types of backgrounds have been called to preach throughout the centuries. Some very "unlearned" (as the world would put it) men have had great results by simply taking the main ideas of Scripture and simply emphasizing them. As long as we do not twist the meaning, this simply shows the amazing power of the Word of God.
New Format
I am going to try putting my comments for each day in this left sidebar. The comments areas for the remaining weeks are displayed to the right. That is where you will place your comments for each week.
13 comments:
Hey, I am reading Robert Shank's book entitled "Life in the Son". I will be studying chapters four, five, and six this week. Chapter 4 is entitled: "Can Eternal Life be Forfeited"?, Chapter Five, " What Saith the Scriptures?" and Chapter Six, "Shall Never Thirst." Should spark some discussion this week. God Bless
In chapter four titled "Can Eternal Life Be Forfeited?" Bro. Shank defines "perseverance" as "once in grace always in grace", or as he calls it "unconditional security". So can eternal life be forfeited? Bro. Shank uses the parable of the sower to argue this point. The sower went to sow. Jesus explains; Matt. 13:20 "But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon(immediately) with joy receiveth it." Matt. 13:21 " Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended". So can eternal life be lost? If not what does rededication mean?
Roger, one of the things that impressed me most from this book is the discussion of conditional security and opposed to undonditional security. The rest of the book discusses the "bottom line" condition.
As for rededication, my take on that could work in two ways: One would be that if a person grows slack in their commitment, they need to renew therr dedication. That would not necessarily mean they are lost--just in need of getting serious again about serving.
The second, of course, would be where a person seemed to have the claim of the condition for salvation and then they didn't have that claim. In that case, they would need to again express their acceptance of that condition. That would be a re-dedication.
The claim that salvation is conditional does not, however, remove the idea that salvation is by grace through faith. (Hint to Sean and Tyler, whose curiosity may be piqued by this, the "condition" for salvation is mentioned in Ephesians 2:8,9.
In Revalation 3:5, Jesus tells the church at Sardis that, if they straiten up, He will not "blot out his name from the book of life." Does this mean that Jesus will "blot us out" if we fall away? I have been taught all my life that we can lose our salvation. Another verse that comes to mind is Hebrews 10:26. In order to keep people from falling away, we need to spend as much time as possible to disciple them that we can.
This subject itself is one that seems to seperate Christians. A person can say its one way by quoting a certain scripture, and another can do the same to argue it. No one has been able to completely prove it one way or the other. Which makes me picture Satan sitting back and laughing because it seperates us. I try to remember Jesus saying the greatest commandment is to love the Lord with all your heart and soul, and your neighbor the same as yourself. And that all the rest hangs on this. I guess when I think about it after reading that, I conclude that if we are worried about justifying our salvation, something else is amiss. I know everyone has thought about this in one way or another, and I might be off track in the direction this discussion was going, its just what I think of on the subject of once saved always saved.
Guys,
Bro. Roger will know what I am going to say here when I mention Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.
[Talking about salvation], he used to say, "Well, some say you can get it and lose it. Others say you can get it and not be able to lose it. (Pause)
"What I want to know is; 'Do you have it?'"
To me, the issue is more important whether salvation is conditional or uncoditional than some of the other discussions along this line. I believe Bro. Shank makes a compelling case that it is conditional.
Good posts, guys. Sean, I agree with you one hundred percent. There are some other subjects that separate christians as well. I am not going to get into those. I would like to see more unity between believers. Surely there is more we agree on than what we disagree on.
I'm not sure what your meaning conditional or uncondtional? I would have to say that being saved is conditional because you do have to "do"(believe) something to receive it. But I've also heard that God's love is uncondtional. Can a person believe, and then not believe?
About a person believing and not believing, that is a debate, but it would seem possible. And, yes, Sean, believing (saving faith) is the contition.
My point is that assurance is only for believers, regardless of what it may have looked like what a person did in the past. If it looked like a person believed, and later he rejects the idea of salvation and outright rejects Christ as savior, I would say that it is a dangerous thing to try to say that he is O.K.
Well guys I think the security is conditional. Bro. Shank uses "John 15:1-5". If we abide in him(Christ) then he will abide in us. This sounds like a work in progress or am I not getting the idea here.
I think so too. I cant think of any particular scripture to back this thought, but in reading the Bible and other commentaries I think that God wants a relationship with us. And the only way it can be real is to let us choose. So if by the time our last breath comes we are choosing to have nothing to do with Him, He only gives us what we want. Now that still leaves open the debate on what "believing" is at that time. That is only God's decision, and when I think about that, I think about when God was going to punish Israel for Davids mistake and David has God choose the outcome, because he knew who would be more merciful. Why would you not want to believe in a God like that.
In chapter five, Bro. Shank quotes this passage of scripture,John 10:28,29,"Jesus said,I give unto them eternal life:and they shall never perish,neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me,is greater than all;and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand". This is probably the most used passage that supports eternal security, and to some extent sounds logical, but what's to say that in our own fleshly, self-loving way we turn our back to God. Would we still be secure? I'm sure God would still love us, but in my opinion we in fact have plucked ourselves out of God's hand. Food for thought, have a blessed night.
Bro. Shank does two things: He gives grounds for increased assurance, but then he clarifies passages like what was mentioned. He does remind us our assurance of being In Christ. If we don't have a basis for saying we are in Christ, we don't hav a basis for assurance.
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