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Abortion
“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made … Your eyes saw my unformed substance; In your book were written, everyone of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there were none of them.” –Psalm 139:13, 14a, 16
I assume by now most of you have heard that Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s written draft opinion concerning Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has been intentionally leaked to the press. Alito’s opinion is a brilliant legal argument that outlines in great detail how abortion is not, and never has been, a constitutional right. The opinion powerfully argues against the arbitrary nature of deciding when a child becomes a child during the gestation period. Alito instead defines any conceived child as a child that has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
This draft opinion was leaked to the press after a straw vote was taken inside the court, back in February, and the Alito draft won a majority 5-4 vote. This is groundbreaking history that Christians nationwide have been praying for, and lobbying toward, my entire life. Never in the history of the Supreme Court has an opinion been leaked. This opinion was certainly leaked with premeditation and malice to stir up abortion advocates to take action in hopes of dissuading one of the supporting judges before the case can be finalized. If this opinion does indeed pass 5-4, it will be the end of nationwide abortion on demand. Abortion will be returned to the states to be legislated there. If the opinion is accepted, abortion would immediately be illegal in thirteen states and greatly limited in at least ten more. If you have not heard the facts on what is happening, I encourage you listen to “The World and Everything In It” podcast from May 3 and 4.
I ask that we all pray for the end of abortion. Many of you have been faithfully seeking this end for many years, without losing hope. Pray that these brave justices – Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Coney-Barrett, and Thomas – will not waiver in their accurate originalist interpretation of the constitution or in their Christian moral resolve. It is possible to see change in our time. Do not lose heart or give up hope!
As Christians we are called to be a holy people, a people set apart from the world in the way we live (1 Peter 1:15-16). We are primarily set apart by our worship and moral character. We worship one triune God and we live according to His good and eternally unchanging moral commands. As the moral landscape around us changes so rapidly and with a militant nature, we must give no ground. We must carefully discern convictional and cultural issues from basic moral fundamentals of right and wrong, life and death, good and evil.
Abortion is one of these issues. No matter how an abortion advocate might spin language, killing an unborn child remains the killing of an unborn child. This is classed with other basic unchanging moral commands related to biblical sexuality and gender, honoring your father and mother, speaking truth in love (not lying), caring for the poor and needy, private property (not stealing), and living a content non-materialistic life (not coveting what you do not have). These things are the basis of the ethic of Jesus.
Our day wants to claim Jesus while rejecting His ethic, but this will not do. You cannot claim to privately love Jesus, while publicly advocating for the killing of the unborn. You cannot claim to personally love Jesus, while advocating that biblical sexual ethics are outdated and backward. You cannot claim the name of Christ and have a covetous materialist heart that loves the things of this world. We are not schizophrenic. We cannot live divided lives. Each of us are one person. Taking two positions to appease the passionately ungodly world, is hypocrisy. To withdraw in silence taking no position on the major battle ground moral issues of our time is cowardice.
By choosing to walk by faith and live according to the ethic of Jesus we follow in the footsteps of Jesus. We should expect to be opposed and even persecuted for these stances. We should expect to share in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:12-19). But when we live for Christ with holiness, love, and grace this separation influences the world. This is what we are seeing with Alito’s opinion. His courageous Christian faith, supported by millions of Christians across America is influencing the greatest nation on earth.
Let’s live winsome and holy lives for Jesus. Let’s be salt and light in our community. Let’s set a boldly different example and not be ashamed. In all things, let us point our friends and neighbors to Jesus our Savior – He who has forgiven our sins and given us a new direction for life.
Pray for the end of abortion,
Pastor Vic
Communion of Saints–Part 11
“So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.” Acts 9:31
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, The Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, The holy catholic church, The communion of saints …
The Apostle’s Creed at this point turns from right belief about God to our relationship with God. We find that our relationship is not singular but communal in the church. It is certainly true that the gate to salvation is narrow, and each person must come individually by faith, but as Christians our faith is not designed to be lived out in isolation. We are designed by God, and intended by God’s purpose, to relate to one another in the local church. Let’s work to define the terms in this section of the Creed. Most of the words used in this section are misunderstood by our culture.
Church: Most people associate the word “church” with a building, not with a group of people. The Bible teaches that the church is made up of all those who are redeemed by Jesus Christ. An important analogy is attached to this group of people called the church. Those who come to salvation in Jesus are called “the body of Christ.” In this analogy of how we should understand our relationship to Jesus and to each other, Jesus is the head (of authority) and we individually are interworking parts of the body (1 Corinthians 12:12-31). Like the parts of a body, we are each given different roles through the gifts and purposes of God. As we each engage with other Christians, we begin to understand how much we need them, how much they need us, and how together we strengthen each other’s lives through Christ. There ultimately is one church, because there is one head – Jesus Christ. There is one gospel, but there are many local gatherings of Christians meeting in every type of building imaginable. This is the local church. I believe in the local church.
Holy: The church must be holy. To be holy means to be set apart from something else. The church must be set apart from the world by what we believe about the world (our worldview) and our ethics (how we conduct ourselves morally). We live differently from the world, because of our faith in Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:13-16). A basic part of the call of Christ in salvation is the call to turn away in repentance from the way of the world. But we are not called to cut against the grain of this fallen world alone. In the church we come alongside an entire community of people that are following the ways of Jesus. In the church we find people of different ages, races, and economic status, all sinners forgiven by Jesus, but all pressing to live a set apart life in Christ.
Catholic: This is the most misunderstood word in the Apostle’s Creed. Catholic as written so long ago means universal. The statement “holy catholic church” speaks to the singular body of Christ, set apart from the world in holiness. However, today, the word catholic is immediately associated with the Roman Catholic church. The Roman catholic church is just that, the formation of the Christian church under ancient Roman government. This development began as a part of the Christian church becoming the official state religion under Emperor Constantine. This strong connection between church and state continued for hundreds of years into the Middle Ages, all the way into the decline of the Roman Empire through decadence. The Roman Catholic church declined in holiness and biblical faithfulness along with the decline of the Roman state. Though we differ significantly from Roman Catholics in biblical Christian doctrine, we still believe in one catholic church.
Communion of Saints: Again, the meaning of this phrase has been significantly affected by the Roman Catholic understanding of “saints.” The word “saint” is often used in the New Testament to refer simply to faithful and godly Christians. Saint means “holy one.” As stated above, all Christians are to live lives that are holy – set apart in godliness to the Lord. All Christians are saints. This is very different from the Roman Catholic understanding of saints being a small group of super-Christians that reach a status of veneration. Instead, as we choose to join the local church, we become a part of the communion of saints. Communion is where you sit down with people and enjoy their company, share a meal, and live together. It’s a word that speaks to personal relationship and real meaningful interaction. I believe this is found most truly and fully in the local church. The communion of the saints should be so important to us, that we really cannot tell the story of our lives without that story including how our lives have been blessed and shaped by the local church.
Al Mohler writes, “The church, unlike anything on earth, will be the only institution to transcend the ages.” I affirm the Apostle’s Creed and believe passionately in the local church as God’s plan for reaching the nations with the gospel. If you, like many, have been frustrated with the local church, I urge you to lean in and play the unique part God would have you to play. If you believe in Jesus as your Savior, you have a unique part to play in the church. Without you there and serving, the church is partially incomplete. There is no substitute for the church!
May Jesus be glorified, and the congregation blessed through all that happens at Redeemer,
Pastor Vic
< This is part eleven in a series of articles on the Apostles’ Creed. To learn more about the Apostles’ Creed read: “The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits” by Albert Mohler. >
Foundations
“And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.” –Acts 2:46-47
This past Easter Sunday was such a joyful and amazing morning! The 9:30 service was something I have never experienced in my life – a church service with every single seat full and many people standing in the back for the entire service. A service of worship full of the Holy Spirit and joy! We live in a day characterized by isolation, depression, much strife, evil, and increasing secularization. It’s an answer to prayer, and a show of God’s favor toward us, that people continue to stream into Redeemer seeking a church that revolves around New Testament principles.
I feel it’s important to review for those who are new to the church, and for those who have been with us from the beginning, what are the foundations of Redeemer Bible Church.
First, Redeemer is committed to expository preaching and teaching of the Bible. This means preaching that goes systematically through the Bible chapter by chapter, the way it was inspired and written, to help give the clearest possible understanding of what the Bible is communicating. This is not easy. The Bible is full of difficult, confrontational, and mysterious passages; however, we should expect exactly that from a holy, righteous, and sovereign God.
The elders of Redeemer are committed to not thematically selecting scriptures that suit beliefs we already hold, but allowing the church to be shaped by what we find in scripture as we face it straight on. Most churches today selectively and intentionally skip theologically and morally difficult passages. These passages are purposely skipped and excluded for so long that it warps the spiritual growth of Christians in that church. However, the hard things of the Bible are in fact what distinguishes us from the world. The hard things of the Bible press us the most toward holiness, self-sacrifice, humility, and the missionary calling. We believe that God is blessing the preaching of His word.
Second, Redeemer is committed to congregational singing. Congregational singing, as a part of the local church, means that the whole church is singing together. It means that all the church – every man, woman, youth, and child – are lifting their voices to sing praise to the risen Jesus.
Our musical worship leaders do certain things, intentionally, to foster congregational singing. The volume of music is turned down low enough, so that every person can hear themselves and others sing. High volume discourages individual singing.
We turn the lights up and raise the window curtains. It the past, Christian sanctuaries were intentionally full of light because our God is a God of light! Today, many churches intentionally darken their places of worship to make them more like performance concert halls. They do that because that is exactly what is happening – the musical worship of such churches is mainly a few talented people performing for the church. The spotlight is literally on them. At Redeemer the musical worship leaders are using their musical gifts to lead us all to worship. God is our audience and we want every Christian in the church to join in honoring God with their voice.
We sing biblically true and substantially meaningful music arranged to be sung by the common person. This is how all church music used to be. Today, there is a resurgence of such music, and we believe God blesses His people when they worship in Spirit and truth.
Third, Redeemer is committed to meaningful membership. Redeemer believes that the meeting of the local church is just that – the meeting of the local church. The Sunday morning gathered worship service is primarily a meeting of people that believe in Jesus as Savior and want to worship Jesus, grow in discipleship and obedience to God’s will.
Unbelievers are invited into this joyful and Christ-honoring setting. They are influenced by the love, hope, and joy of Christian people and are drawn to Christ Jesus, but the service is not for them and is not oriented toward them. The worship is oriented toward Almighty God and an unbeliever cannot worship God.
The teaching of the Bible is directed to disciple and grow the believer, but always presents the gospel so that the unbeliever might know how to put their faith in Jesus.
Meaningful membership brings Christians together in a local setting and in a relationship where they are committed to each other by a church covenant (available on the website under membership). Redeemer is committed to the discipleship of Christians (making disciples) in the local church, and continually seeking the lost that they might be added to the church for the glory of Jesus.
These three foundations are undergirded and surrounded by prayer and Christian love. We are continually praying for the Holy Spirit to be at work in Redeemer and through us out into our community. We pray for the Holy Spirit to be at work in such a way that only God can be glorified because the work cannot be attributed to people’s natural talent.
At Redeemer, we want this church to demonstrate to the world that Jesus Christ lives and is working to glorify Himself in the local church today in our area. We pray for Christian love to overflow from every conversation, every service, every act of hospitality, every widow and orphan cared for, and even in every stand for truth taken in opposition to sin. We pray that the world will know that we are disciples of Jesus Christ by how we love one another (John 13:35-36).
From the beginning we have been on a ten-year plan. The elders at Redeemer believe that the hurried world often overestimates what can be accomplished in one year, but underestimates what can be accomplished in ten years. We’re two and a half years into seeking the Lord in these ways, and look where we are! May the Lord direct our steps and guide our path for His glory!
Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Vic
Easter
“Knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into His presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.” –2 Corinthians 4: 14-15
I look forward to being together this Sunday to remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! The disciples who mourned Jesus’ death went to honor His grave, but instead found an open and empty tomb, angels proclaiming resurrection, and then Jesus Himself – glorified and alive! May this news increase thanksgiving and hope in your heart. We can know that because He lives we can face tomorrow, but more importantly, we believe by faith that we will one day share in His resurrected life and enter into His glorious presence in heaven.
This is such good news! Let’s do a few things differently this Easter Sunday. Let’s not lose even a little bit of the spiritual significance of this morning to tradition and secularism. What I mean is this. If putting on a show of getting dressed up causes you to focus on your personal appearance and that of your children and takes away from focusing on the resurrected Jesus – please dial back the show and focus on Jesus. If candy basket routines cause your kids to be flying so high on sugar that they can’t focus on Jesus glorified after the cross – consider doing baskets in the afternoon. Let’s make any personal adjustment necessary to make this Sunday result in glory and honor and thanksgiving to Jesus.
The doors for the church will be open at 8:00 am for prayer. There will be people bustling around and worship music will be rehearsed, but that need not stop you from arriving early, taking a seat, and turning your heart to Jesus this Easter Sunday. Lay your burdens at His feet. Come with expectation and thanksgiving this Sunday. Pray for the Holy Spirit to be at work in our hearts. Adjust your routines to give maximum focus to the empty tomb. Invite a friend that has not been to church in a long time. If you are reading this, and you yourself have made excuse after excuse to be absent from the congregation, make time this Sunday to celebrate Easter with us.
If you are a regular and are mobile, please choose to park further away from the building to free up parking close to the building. Please notice and make room for visitors. Welcome those you do not recognize. I’m excited to see you soon!
We will have eternal life because Jesus lives,
Pastor Vic
Apostles’ Creed–HOLY SPIRIT–Part 10
Where am I needed to serve in the church?
Children’s Ministry: Sherry needs your help in children’s ministry. We are now regularly running over 100 children during the 11:00 worship service. We need you to get outside of your comfort zone, take up an uncomfortable service of love and gentleness, and help minister to our children. It’s a well-established fact that most people come to salvation while their hearts are tender as children. We want to minister well to our kids and help those dedicated workers that are already in place. What is needed:
- Assistant teachers that can periodically fill in
- A few good men. Some of our more rambunctious classes need a stern male hand to keep order, so the teacher can teach. The horse play can get out of hand and is too much for one teacher to handle.
- An end-of-service-kid-wrangler to help Sherry, and others, gather and check out the kids. When it’s time to go, each and every child must be checked out to make sure everyone is accounted for. This can be chaotic, and we need some extra hands right at the end of the 11:00 service.
Musical Worship Ministry: Katie and the musical worship team need tech help. They need people willing to rotate duties of preparing and presenting the song lyric slides. For a tech oriented and careful person, this is an immediately needed area of service.
Greeter Ministry: Vanessa needs help welcoming people at the door and handing out song sheets. Her substitute list is short at the 9:30 service (2nd and 4th Sundays) and 11:00 (1st and 3rd Sundays).
Please pray about these needs and speak to a church leader about jumping in to help!
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” Acts 1:8
The Apostles’ Creed
I believe in God, The Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he arose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty, whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit …
Do you believe in the Holy Spirit? The earliest Christians included this belief as essential to Christianity because it is essential. The work of God cannot be accomplished only by the power and charisma of people. Only by the power of God can the work of God be accomplished. In this way God gets the glory instead of us!
I was raised in a church tradition that minimized the work and power of the Holy Spirit by seldom speaking about the third person of the Trinity. Little was said of the fruit of the Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, or directly asking for the power of the Holy Spirit to be at work in the church. As stated in the Apostles’ Creed, believing in the unseen Holy Spirit is a matter of faith. I have had to grow in my faith over the years to see the absolute necessity of the Holy Spirit from the work of regeneration in salvation all the way to the seal of hope that we might one day enter eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
The Holy Spirit is the gift of God’s real and abiding presence bestowed in a special and continuous way during the age of the church. The ministry of the Holy Spirit to individual believers, and to the church jointly, is complex, multifaceted, and far too much to cover in a newsletter article.
I strongly encourage you to read “The Mystery of the Holy Spirit: Discover the Work of the Living Spirit of the Living God” by R.C. Sproul. This is the most clear, balanced, and compelling explanation of the ministry of the Holy Spirit I have read in a short book. Chapter six is invaluable in explaining the work of regeneration by the Holy Spirit in bringing us to salvation and spiritual life. It is by the work of the Holy Spirit that we are born again (John 6:23).
The ministry of the Holy Spirit is spoken of continuously throughout the New Testament. You cannot faithfully or truthfully speak about Christianity without struggling to understand, believe, and then actively seek the work of the Holy Spirit in your own life.
First, I will focus on Jesus speaking about sending the Holy Spirit to continue the work of salvation after the ascension of Jesus. The key chapters here are John 14-16. I encourage you to carefully read them. In these chapters we first find that the Holy Spirit abides with those who believe. The Holy Spirit is sent from God as a Helper and a Spirit of Truth who abides (remains or dwells) with us. This means the presence of our merciful, wise, and gracious God is always with us. The presence of God is with us and in us through all the turmoil and struggle of this life. What hope to know that God has not forgotten us but remains always with us to minister to us in so many necessary ways.
Second, Jesus says that one way the Spirit will help us is by teaching and reminding us of truth (John 14:26). This ministry of the Holy Spirit is also called illumination. It is only by the work of the Holy Spirit that a person can authentically believe what they understand from the Bible. One of the fruits of the Holy Spirit is faithfulness. God gives us the ability to believe what we thought was foolishness before. By this work, we respond and act in obedience and boldness for Christ.
Third, the Holy Spirit bears witness about Jesus (“He will bear witness about me” John 15:26-27) and guides us into truth (“He will guide you into all the truth” John 16:13-14). The Holy Spirit always brings glory to God by turning our hearts toward Jesus. If you don’t understand what you are reading in the Bible, or the love of Jesus has grown cold in your heart, it’s time to ask the Holy Spirit to help you understand or stir up again a true love for Jesus in your heart. It’s the Holy Spirit that will pursue you and keep reminding your heart about the mercy, truth, and holiness of God. The Holy Spirit is the one that will convince you of the truth revealed in the Bible.
Beyond this basic foundation there are the gifts given by the Holy Spirit, the beautiful fruit of the Spirit (which far surpasses any general virtue!), the comfort of the Spirit, the creative work of the Spirit, and much more.
I believe in the Holy Spirit. Do you?
May the Lord pour out His Spirit upon the church as we walk in love and obedience to God’s will,
Pastor Vic
< This is part ten in a series of articles on the Apostles’ Creed. To learn more about the Apostles’ Creed read: “The Apostles’ Creed: Discovering Authentic Christianity in an Age of Counterfeits” by Albert Mohler. >