This Satuday Conference Call

Stand Up Ministries is having their 4th conference call this coming Saturday-February 9th. My apologies since I kept on forgetting to post this when we had our previous calls. Stand Up Minsitries is currently conducting live chat conference calls with over 150 lines to access over the phone every other Saturday which has been a blessing to those who have attended. This is not a line where we simply argue. The intent is also not to be a replacement for true Biblical fellowship. This is simply an extension of the 1st conference we had in November of 2007 and enables those of us across the country to keep in touch. At the past conference we had men and women from all over the US attend and even from England.

The time zones for your area are as follows:
6:00 pm - eastern 5:00 pm - central 4:00 pm -

mountain 3:00 pm - pacific (605) 475-4333

Access code: 339865#

(please hit the pound key after entering the code)

This Saturday's topic is "Divorce and Re-marriage." There are seven historically significant interpretations of the exception clause is Matthew 19:9, and there is no small amount of disagreement among reputable Bible scholars as to which one of these seven is correct. Five of the seven views affirm a no-divorce understanding of the text, and six affirm a no-remarriage view. Only one permits both divorce and re-marriage.

Typically most Christians see marriage after a divorce as an option and see that there are exceptions based on Matthew chapter 5 and 19. I differ on this topic completely. I am posting below a paper written by John Piper who also holds this view. His paper is not as detailed as I would like but it gives an overview of his position on this. I believe this position is the most accurate and true to Christ' intent in the Bible. John Macarthur(my favorite Bible expositor) holds the common view and I think he couldn't be more wrong on this issue.

One basic rule of hermeneutics is if we find a passage in which in itself is capable of two interpretations, one of which harmonizes with the rest of the Scriptures while the other does not, we are duty bound to accept the former. This is a recognized principle of interpretation that the more obscure passages are to be interpreted in the light of clearer passages and not vice versa. Prayerfully I ask you to leave your presuppositions to the side and take a Berean look at the opposing views with a non-biased view.

Good book on the seven different views is "Marriage and Ministry in the New Temple" by Abel Isaksson.

Here is the Piper article. Here is Macarthur's site and his link here.

When God wants to drill a man.

This is a poem my pastor Jim Elliff gave to me about 8 months ago and I thought I would share it. God bless

Romans 7?

The common view of Romans chapter 7 typically is that Paul is speaking of himself as a believer and his stuggle with sin. I honestly have a hard time with that based of off chapter 6 and then chapter 8. My pastor's son Bryan Elliff(18 years old) teaches Wednesday night Bible study for the teenagers and makes some compelling arguments for the opposing view. The beauty of being young and in the Faith is the fact that(we) unlike many older guys in the Faith, do not have a lot of faulty pressuppositions about many topics.

Check out 1(Romans 7:14-25: “Sin Became Alive and I Died” Part 1) and 2(Romans 7:14-25: “Sin Became Alive and I Died” Part 2) of his studies so far. I couldn't link his blog article because I think he a older style blog to where you can't link the articles directly but I will give you his site and you can scroll through to find these articles-God Bless in Christ

His site is HERE.

Paul Washer

How do you know you are saved?

This is post from this site. Thanks to Alan Higgins for this great post-GOD Bless

2 Corinthians 13:5 says that we should

Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you are disqualified.
So how do you make sure that you are not disqualified? How do you make sure that you are not in that number of many church-going people who will say to God on Judgement Day

….Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then (he) will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’(Matthew 7:22-23)

How do you know you are saved?

Well first of all, you should be displaying (or starting to display) the fruit of the spirit which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23)
If you are displaying immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness and carousing, then this is a good indication that you are not saved and as it says in Galatians 5:21, those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God

The books of 1 and 2 John also give you a list of things to look out for ’so that you may know that you have eternal life.’ (1 John 5:13)
You will not walk in darkness. If you do, then you do not practice or live by the truth (1 John 1:6)
You will have fellowship with other christians (1 John 1:7)
You recognise your sinful nature (1 John 1:8,10)
You confess your sins (1 John 1:9)
You obey and keep his commandments (1 John 2:3,5 ,1 John 3:24, 1 John 5:2)
You will not hate your brother or sister but love them (1 John 2:9,11 , 1 John 3:10 and 1 John 4:7-8,12-13, 20-21, 2 John 1:5)
You will not love the world or the things of the world (1 John 2:15)
You will do the will of God (1 John 2:17)
You believe the divinity of Jesus Christ and that he has come in the flesh (1 John 2:22 and 1 John 4:2-4,15, 2 John 1:7)
Biblical truth will be abiding in you (1 John 2:24)
You understand the righteousnes of Christ (1 John 2:29)
You will be practicing righteousness (1 John 2:29)
You will not habitually practice sin (1 John 3:8,9, 1 John 5:18)
You will have compassion for those in need (1 John 3:17)
You believe that Jesus is the Christ and is the Son of God (1 John 5:1)
You abide in the doctrine of Christ (2 John 1:9)

Now am I saying that if you are missing any of these then you are not saved? Of course not. It is not about perfection but about direction. You should be moving in the direction of doing the things above. This is called progressive sanctification where God is doing an inward work in you.
Other questions to ask yourself are:

Am I growing in holiness?
What is my relationship with sin?
Do I have a struggle with sin or do I feel no way about my sin? (Read Romans 7:7-25)
Do I hate it more and more or do I try and justify it?
Do I have a love for Gods word?
Do I hunger and thirst for righteousness?
Do I have a concern for the lost?
If the answer to the majority of these questions is no, then I would seriously doubt your salvation and I would urge you to repent of your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ and in him alone.

Amazing Grace Video Snippet.

Integration or Separation?

Lionel's articles regarding this issue as well. 1 & 2

These figures above may bring back horrid memories to some. To others like myself, probably not as offensive since I grew up after this era. These pictures above are referencing a term that was used offensively used throughout history over the past 200 years and made more popular within the last century. There are many stories on the history of this term one says that the origins of the word “Sambo” stem from an occurrence believed to be at the height of the British Empire. An unknown slave ship had docked in the then-popular Morecambe Bay area to buy various sundry items; once back at sea it was noticed that a black member of the ship’s staff had been left ashore. This man’s name was Sambo; shunned by the people of Morecambe, he was made to live out the remainder of his days on the outskirts of the villages at that time. To this day there is a monument known as ‘Sambo’s Grave” on the coast of the Lancashire village of Heysham. The term “Sambo” has its origin from the Spanish word “nzambu” which means monkey. The Royal Spanish Academy gives the origin from a Latin word which in modern Spanish means “bow-legged.”

About 1600 years prior to this event we see a great man name Apostle Peter. Apostle Peter was one of the 12 and some would claim the most influential of the Apostles. In Acts 10 we see Peter receives a special revelation from God and is placed in a trance. What he learns from this trance from God is that this Gospel that he had been commissioned to preach was not just for Jews but for all nations also created by God. In this we see God demolishing the ignorant presuppositions that were put in place by his Jewish culture. It was a unlawful(Acts 10:28) thing for a Jew to dine with a gentile regardless of the circumstance. In other words we can only imagine how doing this command from God made his flesh feel. We catch a glimpse of this when Peter says in verse 14, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.” Wait a minute!! Did Peter just openly disobey Our Lord? Thank God for His grace!! Peter was a bold man. He must have forgotten what happened in Acts 5 right?

Furthermore we see Peter being obedient for 1) To the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19and 2) To the command just received from God the Father. What happens? Peter preaches the unadulterated Gospel and I guess we can step into the Charismatic dialect and say he saw “A mighty move of God.” The Gentiles received the Holy Spirit and secondly they were baptized. Shortly after this wonderful act of God we see the Judaizers coming on the scene in Acts 11. Peter does not withhold his special revelation from God and informs them of the great news. It would appear based on the disappointment that the Judaizers had with Peter that possibly they had some type of relationship with Peter before or after Christ’ ascension but that could be a incorrect speculation.

Peter does not relent and dishes a double scoop of the Gospel to the Judaizers as well. From this passage in Acts it would certainly appear that the Judaizers were OK with this great news. They say, “Then God has also granted to the Gentiles repentance to life.” Somewhere in this or thereafter Paul exposes some further insight in Galatians 2:11-21. I am unsure of the chronological order here but it would appear that this sin committed by Peter in Galatia was done after Acts 15-The Jerusalem Council. During this meeting among Paul and others, Paul states in verse 8, “So God, who knows the heart, acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as He did to us, and made no distinction between us them. This is not Supersessionism or Replacement Theology rather it simply states that all of God’s elect throughout time have been saved the same way-By Faith.

It is horrible to think of how some of our ancestors were treated but just as they fought for us to be considered humans and to vote, they also fought so that we can be integrated and not separated. I used the Sambo figure above because many people say they are Christian’s but cannot let go(forgive) of the past. They hold Sambo and slavery issues as a grudge towards there brother or sister in Christ and allow it hinder their spiritual growth. In our day we don’t see the sovereignty of God in slavery as being similar to Joseph and him forgiving his brothers. We miss the purpose of God in the things he does throughout history. Joseph says, “Genesis 45:5 Do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 45:8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God, and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.At times in my dealing with blacks and whites I see the animosity they hold to in their dealings with their Christian brethren which is a direct opposition to scripture and definitely not Christ-like. Similar to how Peter was acting when after he recieved the revelation from God. How much more should we act in accordance with scripture since we have the completed Canon.

If God calls you to sit amongst people who don’t look like you-SO WHAT!! So the worship is different-Maybe you have opposition at home. You-my friend have been commissioned to follow the LAMB not your comfort. God causes us to do things at times that does not coincide with our feelings or our regular dealings. When God saved me I heard His voice and followed and will continue to follow wherever HE leads me. The Gospel is all that matters and all that will ever matter-without it we have absolutely nothing. As Lionel stated in an earlier post-”stop complaining about your situation(which is sin by the was Phil 2:14) and GOD may have called you to be that “Catalyst” for a while.

1) How much are you willing to compromise your Biblical convictions for the sake of being comfortable?

2) Did God only call you to save a certain race or to preach the Gospel to all nations?

3) Are there any benefits to learning how to mingle with other cultures and can that help you be a better witness for the Kingdom of God?

4) Would this help us become all things to all men that we might by all means save some?

Ponder these things if you consider yourself a Christian. We are to emulate the attributes of Christ in all we do. Search for a Biblical church and don’t be locked in on finding a particular race of people. The only people you should be concered about being in fellowship with are your brothers in sisters in Christ in which you share the same blood-that of Christ.