Blessed Assurance

Every week the ESV website puts out a memory verse through one of their RSS feeds. (See yesterday's post) This week is on Assurance and the verse is John 10:27-28 in which Jesus promises:

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.

What confidence we can have in the hands of the Savior!

Geek info

I have stumbled upon something I am sure many of you already know about...site feed readers. These are programs that pull all the blogs, news sites, etc., that you normally have to go from page to page on your browser into one place (soooo tedious...). The program lets you know when the site is updated and you can check it out right then rather than wait for email notification.

Here's the link. It's free. It downloaded pretty fast and with little effort on my part. To add this blog, just copy the web address and paste it into the window after you click "New". Hit OK and it should find the site feed address on its own. You can pick the "RSS" or "Atom" feed, it really doesn't matter.

Just another tip from your friendly neighborhood tech geek. God bless and hopefully see you Wednesday. The Men's Ministry lesson this week is on "Broken Relationships" and is being taught by Scott Ritchison. After reading the chapter in the book, we should have a good discussion on priorities.

Some thoughts from last week's lesson...

Although there were several good points from the lesson last week on Job's Testimony, one point Scott made has stuck with me the most. I have written in my notes, "1) Temptation to give up on God."

Tonight, I was updating the prayer list and saw so many circumstances that just break my heart. I think of the situation with Mimi (not Youngblood) and the loss of that baby after carrying her nine weeks. I think of Troy's family and the loss of a father and a husband and the sense of abandonment with which they must be wrestling. I think of little Noah facing heart surgery at seven years old. I am reminded of the ongoing struggle with the health of Jill's dad. Then also, my heart goes out to Robyn and Christi and the inner struggles they must be going through having mothers with cancer. I am sure there are many others unspoken or outside of our class for which we have no clue.

What is the temptation for each of these? The temptation is to assault God with the accusation of being unfair and unjust. This is where the rubber meets the road, so to speak. Do we trust the testimony of Scripture that God is absolutely sovereign and absolutely good when our hearts are pulling apart, when we are fatigued of facing the pain and the problem day after day?

"Why did You let this happen?"

"How could a loving God allow such things to go on?"

"Don't You care?"

"Am I on my own with this?"

"What's the use of being a Christian if You won't or can't protect me from this pain and suffering?"

And the questions go on and on...As Scott said, Scripture shows us that our Father welcomes honest questions. We should take our concerns to God directly. Through Christ, Hebrews tells us that we can boldly (ESV says "confidently") come to the throne of grace. I heard an old pastor say once that we enter boldly, but not brazenly. There is a difference in an honest question and a disrespectful accusation.

I must confess up front that my own times of testing have shown me that I have so much to learn about relying on the Lord and being confident in His goodness and power to work all things together for the good. I am praying for those who are in these circumstances to be much wiser about recognizing their need for Him to sustain them than I was.

Nevertheless, I throw this out for your comment. What have you learned from Job to help deal with these types of situations? What have you learned about God so that you are equipped to overcome the temptation that is so prominent in a crisis? If you are in a crisis circumstance, where is Christ in the middle of it?

This blog is meant to be an interractive tool for us to discuss what we are studying throughout the week. Use the comment button at the bottom of this post to respond. With so many Job-like situations present just in our class, how does the study of God's sovereignty in the suffering of the righteous effect your hearts in these trials? Does the study of Job cause you to handle these things differently than you would have otherwise?

Does God Want Us to Be Rich? TIME Looks at Prosperity Theology

Time Magazine, of all things, has taken on the prosperity theology so prevalent in the Western Church today. This article is timely with our study of Job. Take a look at Al Mohler's comment on Time's coverage of "preachers" like Osteen, Jakes, etc.

There is the issue of priorities. For what do we as a church strive? Do we strive for the theater seats for the main service to comfortably watch the show? Or would we be content with those hard fold-out metal chairs as long as the Lord's Table is spread before us and we can feast on the pure Word of God? Do we seek numbers? Or do we seek fellowship with and the making of true brothers and sisters in Christ who are growing in grace and who bear the marks of true faith: Love for Christ and a love for all the saints? Do we seek position: to be known by others as the "best church in Tyler"? Or do we seek the servants' faithfulness to His Word that oftentimes goes unnoticed by the masses?

When I read about these kinds of situations in the Church, it is tempting for me to feel that my church is much more holy and more Christian than the mega-churches. But, if we really examine our own hearts, even though we may profess to not believe in the doctrines of personal prosperity and pragmatic church growth, I wonder if our actions sometimes betray differently. Do we truly trust Christ alone for the health and growth of this body we call Calvary? Or do we sometimes try to take that growth into our own hands forgetting that it is Christ Who will build His church?

He builds His church when He grants us faithful hearts to His Word. He builds it when He grants us sincere love for one another. He builds it when He grants us those precious opportunities to share the gospel of His grace with the lost. He builds it in a thousand thousands of other ways that we do not even see. He builds it when He grants us the wisdom to use our finances in ways that exhibit our Christ-centeredness rather than to build for ourselves a name. Some gifts are shortly realized. Others have been in the works for years. His gifts to us, for His glory and our good.

Help needed for Mother of three

I got a call from Fred earlier today. There is a young mother of three in our church who has had her transmission go out on her car. It has been a tough time for her and she needs some help. Fred asked if I knew of anyone with an extra car she could borrow while her transmission was getting fixed. If you have an extra car to loan that would accommodate three children, please contact Fred or Mary at 903-939-3200.

"By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another." (John 13:35)

What on earth is a Daysman?

In class Sunday, we were studying Job's recognition of his need for an "umpire" between him and God. In looking at the KJV of the passage, the word "daysman" is used instead of mediator, or arbiter, or someother similar phrase. Scott asked me if I knew what a "daysman" was, and, although I was confident it was another word for mediator, I had to admit I was unfamiliar with the origin of the word. As you can imagine, it was a difficult time for me. I have yet to recover from my shame. Nevertheless, I looked into it when I got home that afternoon. Here is what I found.

Consider the different translations of Job 9:33, part of our text in Sunday school last week.

Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both. (KJV)

If only there were someone to arbitrate between us, to lay his hand upon us both, (NIV)

There is no umpire between us, Who may lay his hand upon us both. (NASB)

There is no (or would that there were an) arbiter between us, who might lay his hand on us both. (ESV)

There is no one to judge between us, to lay his hand on both of us. (HCSB)

Daysman is an old English word formed from the Latin diem dicere, i.e., to fix a day for hearing a cause. Diem means "day" (we talk of per diem reimbursements). Dicere means "to judge". A Daysman is empowered by mutual consent to decide the cause, and to "lay his hand", i.e., to impose his authority, on both parties, and enforce his sentence. We use the term arbiter today.

It is important to understand that in the Greek of the New Testament there two major terms for "time." One, chronos, emphasizes the passage of time without any stress on the significance of events in the period; the other, kairos, stresses the special or revelatory significance of time. All life happens between chronos and kairos, so to speak. Or, to put it differently, chronos is one thing after another; kairos is one significant event.

Our word "day" is a word that captures in its various definitions both of the biblical meanings of time. On the one hand is the "chronological" meaning of "day"-- "the time of sunlight," as it is defined in the dictionary. On the other hand we know that "day" can signify a "great day" or an important day. The theological concept of the Judgment Day or "the Day of the Lord", stresses this meaning.

Pushing the research further, "Day" had a rich significance in law that has been lost to our day, and this usage relates to day as a verb. "To day" means "To appoint a day to anyone" or "to cite or summon for an appointed day," such as in the 15th century sentence, "he should be sente fore and dayed ernestly agayn, for to abyde such jugement."

But the second usage of "day" as a verb is "to submit (a matter) to, or decide by, arbitration." We know that the use of "day" in this manner was already obsolete in the 18th century, but an Oxford English Dictionary example from the 16th century is "They have him enforced when all their money was...spent, to have their matter dayed, and ended by arbitrement."

This use of "day" seems to have spawned two nouns, "dayment" and "daysman." "Dayment" is simply defined as "arbitration," such as in the sentence "to spende all..that money and put it to dayment at last." A "daysman" is an "umpire or arbitrator; a mediator" in its archaic usage, according to the OED. From a 16th century legal source we have, "If neighbors were at variance, they ran not straight to law: Daysmen took up the matter, and cost them not a straw." Or, in another case, "They had some common arbitrators, or dayesmen, in every towne, that made a friendly composition between man and man."

The sense from the quotation just given is that arbitration, or dayment, was not only a cheaper procedure than a court trial, but was the principal method to reconcile parties and deliver quicker justice than might be attainable through the King's Bench or Common Pleas or Exchequer. In his magisterial history of English law in the 16th century, Baker points to the popularity of arbitration at any stage of the legal proceedings in this period, even though the surviving records of arbitrations are much more scanty than purely judicial proceedings (Oxford History of the Laws of England, 333-34). Thus daysmen were important in that period, even though the word has long disappeared from our vocabulary.

Yet even though the word is no longer used, its 16th-17th century usage is preserved in a most unlikely place: the Book of Job in the King James translation of the Bible (1611). When Job is expressing his frustration with not being able to know how to approach God in his distress, he expresses a contrary to fact wish (Job 9:33) which the KJV translated as follows: "Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both." It is interesting that the KJV translators were following the 1535 English translation of the Bible by Miles Coverdale, who rendered 9:33 as follows: "Nether is there eny dayes man to reprove both the partes, or to laye his honde betwixte us."

A leading commentator on the Book of Job, David Clines, comments on this passage that the author isn't specific as to whether what is in view is a person who has the power to make decisions or just to try to reconcile the parties (Job 1-20, p. 243). He actually translates the Hebrew word (Mochia) as "mediator," which seems to be precisely wrong. What is in view in Job 9:33-34 is an umpire-like figure who can "lay his hand upon us both."

The phrase "lay his hand" only appears in the Hebrew Bible in one other place, Ps. 139 (verse 5). In that context the words "lay his hand upon" suggests the authority of God to make something happen in the Psalmist's life. In law the person who can make decisions by "laying his hand" on both parties is the arbitrator, not the mediator.

A mediator in American law is a person who can get parties together and make suggestions (and even some warnings/threats), but s/he has no authority to force a decision on the parties. Thus, I think the KJV has it right after all--what Job is longing for is not simply a mediator, but an arbitrator, a daysman with all his power. Further, Job might consider a human judge as capable of acting as an umpire upon his own claims, but no man was worthy to question the purposes of Yahweh, or metaphorically, to "lay his hands upon" Him. To that end, I think the English Standard Version is the most correct in that it uses the term "arbiter", which is consistent with the context, rather than "mediator."

Commentator Arthur Walwyn Evans, notes that in the New Testament (1 Corinthians 4:3, anthropine, hemera) "man's judgment" is literally, "man's day," in the sense of a day fixed for the trial of a case. Both Tyndale and Coverdale so translate. See also 1 Timothy 2:5, where the Saviour is termed the "one mediator .... between God and men." Here the word connotes a pleader, an advocate or lawyer before an umpire, rather than the adjudicator himself (see Job 19:25-27).

Nathaniel update...

Yes, we are home...Thank, God. Thanks for all your prayers, visits and calls. Tammy is doing well, but still recovering. Nathaniel is also doing well, but learning the fine art of sleeping...I am committed to his advanced studies on that topic.

We've got pictures, if you're interested. Here and here.

Remember, tonight is the "Reconnect" social over at the Rose's. More details in the sidebar and Scott's letter here. Hope to see you there.

Thirst is a Liar

Did you know that thirst is a liar? You can't always trust your sense of thirst to keep your water intake above the minimum required for good health. An hour of hard work or athletic competition that involves heavy sweating, for example, can dehydrate the body far beyond what a person would ordinarily feel like drinking. Similarly, people who are sick or elderly often have a dulled sense of thirst. In instances like these, it's better to trust objective guidelines than your own feeling of satiety.

In the same way, we don't drink long enough or deep enough from the Word of God on a regular basis. If we trust our "felt need" for Scripture, we would be spiritually dehydrated, indeed. Many times when we are spiritually "sick" through unrepentant sin, for example, or some lengthy trial, we don't even realize our desparate need for the Word of God to nourish our souls. I have found that an objective reading schedule is very helpful. There is no right schedule. Just pick something that is consistent and gets you deeper into study than the casual reading of the newspaper.

Here's one I like for a good overview:

Old Testament

1. Genesis (History of Creation, Fall, and Covenant in Patriarchal History)


2. Exodus (History of Israel’s liberation and formation as people of God)


3. Joshua (History of military conquest of promised land)


4. Judges (History of transition from tribal federation to monarch)


5. 1 & 2 Samuel (History of emerging monarchy with Samuel, Saul, and David; the golden age of Israel)


6. 1 & 2 Kings (History of Solomon and the division of the kingdom; the fall of Israel and the beginning of the age of the prophets)


7. Ezra/Nehemiah (History of return from exile; restoration of Jerusalem)


8. Amos and Hosea (Examples of Minor Prophets)


9. Jeremiah (Example of Major Prophets)


10. Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon (Examples of Wisdom Literature)


11. Psalms and Proverbs (Examples of Hebrew poetry)

This gives an Old Testament overview to which you can fill in the gaps later on.

New Testament

1. Luke (Life and teaching of Jesus)


2. Acts (History of early church)


3. Ephesians (Introduction to teaching of Paul)


4. 1 Corinthians (Teaching in the life of the Church)


5. 1 Peter (Introduction to Peter)


6. 1 Timothy (Introduction to Pastoral Epistles)


7. Hebrews (Theology of Christ)


8. Romans (Paul’s theology)

After this is finished, go back and fill in the gaps. This gives an overview of the component parts of the New Testament.

I read an article once where a teacher suggested starting in three different places: Genesis, Job, and Matthew. Apparently, that's almost the Bible in thirds. The idea is that it breaks up the reading so that you get several types at once. I’ve also heard that 3 chapters on the weekdays and 5 chapters each on Saturday and Sunday will get you through the Bible in a year. That would certainly get us through the New Testament several times a year. However, that pace is not the best for "study". But after reading the Bible through a few times, you'd be amazed at how you remember other passages and statements that shed light on what you are currently reading. I guess the point is: start somewhere and read it systematically.

I've also included 10 Rules for interpreting Scripture, just in case you find that helpful.

Rule 1: Read it like any other book. In other words, read poetry like poetry, narratives like narratives, and doctrinal treatises (i.e., Romans) like, well, doctrinal treatises.

Rule 2: Get under the skin of the characters. Get into the context of why the book was written and under what circumstances.

Rule 3: Historical narratives are to be interpreted by passages that teach or explain. Don't look to the life of David as a complete pattern for living. Look to the books that teach those principles. It may be that a story of David's life was included to show what not to do, for example.

Rule 4: What is implied should be interpreted by what is expressly stated.

Rule 5: Determine carefully the meaning of words

Rule 6: Note the Presence of Parallelisms in the Bible

Rule 7: Don’t make a Proverb into a Law…and vice versa

Rule 8: Note the difference between the Spirit and the Letter of the Law

Rule 9: Be Careful with Parables

Rule 10: Be Careful with Prophecy

Please note that we shouldn't ignore parables or prophecy and just accept what those with credentials would tell us. Study parables and prophecy, but study them carefully in light of the rest of Scripture. Scripture interprets Scripture.

Job - With Friends Like These...

Two Sundays ago, Scott taught on what we learn NOT to do from Job's three friends.

Job's three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar teach us:

I. THE WRONG WAY TO HELP A FRIEND WHO IS HURTING

1. Don't make FALSE assumptions about why (they're hurting)
2. Don't make FAULTY conclusions about God's will

II. THE RIGHT WAY TO HELP A FRIEND WHO IS HURTING

1. BE THERE for them
2. CRY with them
3. LISTEN more TALK less
4. ATTEND to their physical needs
5. PRAY with them

III. HOW YOU SHOULD RESPOND WHEN FRIENDS FAIL YOU

1. Don't DENY your disappointment
2. Don't let them make you BITTER – Job 12: 2-3
3. PRAY for them – Job 42:10

When the Church Gives Birth to Ichabod

A few weeks ago, Scott preached a sermon on Sunday night called, "When the Church Gives Birth to Ichabod." The text was 1 Samuel 4. I do not have the transcript, but wanted to post the outline. It was a good sermon and, I thought, very applicable to the Western church. Here is the outline.

Ichabod is born in the church when:

I. GOD’S PEOPLE PLAY GAMES

The Ark of the Covenant contained three items that represent the things people in the church play games with (Hebrews 9:4):

1. TABLETS of God (1 Kings 8:21)

It is not the word of God that is your protection; it is the God of the word who is your protection

[The Word of God is not any less glorious than God Himself. It is "God-breathed". Nevertheless, God's Word is not a book of magic spells. It is revealed truth that is God-centered, not man-centered, and should be treated as such]

2. BOWL of Manna (Exodus 16:33-34)

God is faithful to provide

3. Aaron’s ROD that Budded (Numbers 17:8-10)

Stop murmuring and grumbling

II. GOD’S POWER IS SUBSTITUED FOR

1. Faith is in the SYSTEM and not the SAVIOR

2. Focus is on MAINTAINING not MINISTERING

III. GOD’S LEADERS LACK INTEGRITY

1. Hophni and Phinehas

Superstition = FAITHLESSNESS

2. Eli

Permissiveness = LAZINESS

What should we do?

To the hurting – Get your HEAD up!
The King of Glory will come in! (Psalm 24:7)

…and then you’ll run and not grow weary,
You’ll walk and not grow faint. (Isaiah 40:31)

Baby Nathaniel

Just wanted to update everyone on the baby status. Nathaniel Judson Rhyne was born at 7:43 a.m. this morning, weighing in at 7lbs 13oz. and 19 1/2 inches long. For those of you who are baby stat die hards, his head and chest are 13 3/4 in. each. Those are the only stats I know. He's got a lot of hair...I'm not bitter. I've already taught him how to burp.

Tammy is doing well and seems to be handling things very well. We anticipate getting her up to walk later this afternoon. Please keep her in your prayers. The girls cannot wait to meet their new baby brother!

Thank you all for your prayers, calls, visits, meal planning, etc. It is a blessing to our family to have such wonderful brothers and sisters in Christ.

Baptist Faith and Message Comparison Chart

To complete the tour of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000, I thought it would be good to compare the latest version with the previous versions of this particular confession. It is important to note that Baptist confessionalism did not begin with the 1925 confession. Baptists have always been confessional as opposed to creedal.

Probably the best known early Baptist confession is the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession. It was essentially a copy of the great 1647 Westminster Confession of faith from the English Reformation era. In colonial America, the 1689 London Baptist Confession was adopted wholesale by the Philadelphia Association as the "Philadelphia Confession" in 1742. In 1833, Baptists in the United States agreed upon a confession of faith, the so called "New Hampshire Confession", around which they could organize a missionary society under the Triennial Convention. Those proposing the New Hampshire Confession claimed that it held to the former confessions, but stated them in "milder" form. The Triennial Convention was the forerunner of the Southern Baptist Convention. The committee for the 1925 Baptist Faith and Message used the New Hampshire Confession as its model.

Confessions are, of course, not infallible. However, they are an excellent litmus test on the doctrinal purity of a body of believers.

Baptist Faith and Message (18)

The eighteenth section concerns marriage, the family, the compatability of roles between men and women, the gift of children and the sanctity of human life. This section is relatively new and was added in 1998. This is the last section of the Baptist Faith and Message 2000.

XVIII. The Family

God has ordained the family as the foundational institution of human society. It is composed of persons related to one another by marriage, blood, or adoption.

Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman in covenant commitment for a lifetime. It is God's unique gift to reveal the union between Christ and His church and to provide for the man and the woman in marriage the framework for intimate companionship, the channel of sexual expression according to biblical standards, and the means for procreation of the human race.

The husband and wife are of equal worth before God, since both are created in God's image. The marriage relationship models the way God relates to His people. A husband is to love his wife as Christ loved the church. He has the God-given responsibility to provide for, to protect, and to lead his family. A wife is to submit herself graciously to the servant leadership of her husband even as the church willingly submits to the headship of Christ. She, being in the image of God as is her husband and thus equal to him, has the God-given responsibility to respect her husband and to serve as his helper in managing the household and nurturing the next generation.

Children, from the moment of conception, are a blessing and heritage from the Lord. Parents are to demonstrate to their children God's pattern for marriage. Parents are to teach their children spiritual and moral values and to lead them, through consistent lifestyle example and loving discipline, to make choices based on biblical truth. Children are to honor and obey their parents.

Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15-25; 3:1-20; Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Joshua 24:15; 1 Samuel 1:26-28; Psalms 51:5; 78:1-8; 127; 128; 139:13-16; Proverbs 1:8; 5:15-20; 6:20-22; 12:4; 13:24; 14:1; 17:6; 18:22; 22:6,15; 23:13-14; 24:3; 29:15,17; 31:10-31; Ecclesiastes 4:9-12; 9:9; Malachi 2:14-16; Matthew 5:31-32; 18:2-5; 19:3-9; Mark 10:6-12; Romans 1:18-32; 1 Corinthians 7:1-16; Ephesians 5:21-33; 6:1-4; Colossians 3:18-21; 1 Timothy 5:8,14; 2 Timothy 1:3-5; Titus 2:3-5; Hebrews 13:4; 1 Peter 3:1-7.

Baptist Faith and Message (17)

Section seventeen concerns the fallacy of legalism and how God alone is the Lord of the conscience, not the dictates of mere men. That being the case, we should be avid students of the Word of God so that we may bind our consciences and save ourselves from corrupt imaginations that results from the weakness of our flesh.

XVII. Religious Liberty

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and He has left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men which are contrary to His Word or not contained in it. Church and state should be separate. The state owes to every church protection and full freedom in the pursuit of its spiritual ends. In providing for such freedom no ecclesiastical group or denomination should be favored by the state more than others. Civil government being ordained of God, it is the duty of Christians to render loyal obedience thereto in all things not contrary to the revealed will of God. The church should not resort to the civil power to carry on its work. The gospel of Christ contemplates spiritual means alone for the pursuit of its ends. The state has no right to impose penalties for religious opinions of any kind. The state has no right to impose taxes for the support of any form of religion. A free church in a free state is the Christian ideal, and this implies the right of free and unhindered access to God on the part of all men, and the right to form and propagate opinions in the sphere of religion without interference by the civil power.

Genesis 1:27; 2:7; Matthew 6:6-7,24; 16:26; 22:21; John 8:36; Acts 4:19-20; Romans 6:1-2; 13:1-7; Galatians 5:1,13; Philippians 3:20; 1 Timothy 2:1-2; James 4:12; 1 Peter 2:12-17; 3:11-17; 4:12-19.

Abstract of Principles

Liberty of Conscience

God alone is Lord of the conscience; and He hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in anything contrary to His word, or not contained in it. Civil magistrates being ordained of God, subjection in all lawful things commanded by them ought to be yielded by us in the Lord, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake.

Baptist Faith and Message (16)

Section sixteen concerns the Christian's attitude toward war. Scripture does not instruct us to convert others by the sword. Therefore, the concept of a Christian terrorist is an oxymoron, whereas such practices would be consistent with false worldviews such as Islam.

XVI. Peace and War

It is the duty of Christians to seek peace with all men on principles of righteousness. In accordance with the spirit and teachings of Christ they should do all in their power to put an end to war.

The true remedy for the war spirit is the gospel of our Lord. The supreme need of the world is the acceptance of His teachings in all the affairs of men and nations, and the practical application of His law of love. Christian people throughout the world should pray for the reign of the Prince of Peace.

Isaiah 2:4; Matthew 5:9,38-48; 6:33; 26:52; Luke 22:36,38; Romans 12:18-19; 13:1-7; 14:19; Hebrews 12:14; James 4:1-2.