This blog serves as an outreach for Pastor Randy Powell of the First Baptist Church of Franklin, PA. Feel free to ask questions or send me an e-mail at pastorpowell@hotmail.com
In light of our foreknowledge that Jesus will return to gather his followers, both the dead in Christ and the currently living, the Apostle Paul encourages us to live our lives in a way that is awake and sober? What does this mean? Metaphorically, it means we have an important job to do in sharing the Gospel and making disciples, and we need to be properly focused upon it.
How do we do this? By embracing faith, love, and hope.
Lastly, Paul ends the discussion of the impact of the return of Christ by reminding us to use this wisdom of what will one day happen to encourage and build each other up.
I've written a lot about the dangers of the First Fruits of Zion in the last 3+ years, and I've created long detailed videos refuting their false teachings. I think there is value in taking the time to dig deep and examine things closely. However, if you have a friend or family members who is participating in a Torah Club, or you know of a church that allows its building to be used for a Torah Club, show them this 3 minute video looking briefly at one of the most outrageous quotes I've seen thus far.
In the quote, asserts that some who have put their faith in Jesus will be rejected on Judgement Day because that day's decisions will be "based on deeds." This directly contradicts dozens of passages of scripture, including John 3:16, Acts 16:31, Romans 10:9, and 1 John 1:9.
Christianity affirms that faith must be genuine in order to save, that it has to result in a changed heart and mind and produce fruit. However, we reject as heresy the idea that works can save anyone (even Torah keeping won't help), our salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone.
If this short video prompts questions, I'm happy to have a conversation with anyone with regard to First Fruits of Zion or the larger Hebrew Roots Movement of which they are a key part.
Death and the grief that it causes are as real for followers of Jesus as they are for everyone else. Because we have faith our grief is not eliminated, it is transformed, transformed by our hope. Hope in what? the resurrection of those who are in Jesus Christ.
In this text, the Apostle Paul establishes two key truths that we take for granted, but that would have been mind-blowing in the Ancient Near East: (1) We can KNOW how to please God, and (2) we can please God in the way in which we live.
Now, Paul makes this assertion by building on the foundation of salvation by grace through faith. One cannot please God without the forgiveness of sins and the relationship that faith creates.
How do we know what pleases the Lord? His Word tells us. Who can please the Lord? Every man, woman, and child who comes to Jesus Christ by faith, who is empowered by the Holy Spirit, and who is joined together into a community of fellow disciples.
We know the stories of the missionary martyrs, those who risked their lives and gave them to share the Gospel. Less well known are the persecutions of those who chose to accept Jesus in those dangerous settings. The persecution that Paul endured is familiar to us, but what about the ordinary men and women of Thessalonica, what was it like for them?
In our text today Paul doesn't detail the hostility they faced, rather he focuses on what they did in response: they accepted the Gospel as the very words of God. This remarkable faith is encouraging to us, reminding us of the power of the Gospel and the work of the Holy Spirit. Persecution didn't stop the redeeming power of God's grace in Paul's day, it won't in ours either.
At the beginning of his letter to the very young church at Thessalonica (most of the believers had known Christ for a year or less), the Apostle Paul begins by commending them for how Faith, Love, and Hope had propelled them to Work, Labor, and Endurance. While those three virtues have their own worth, in this case Paul chooses to focus on what each of them was able to accomplish for the Kingdom of God through the actions of these followers of Jesus.
After God's providential choice of Rebekah to be Isaac's future wife is revealed to Abraham's servant through his faithful prayer in the first half of chapter 24, the narrative shifts its focus to the potential bride herself and her brother Laban. They now need to be convinced to also follow God's leading.
After hearing the whole tale from Abraham's servant, Laban steps aside by embracing God's choice of Rebekah. But then something happens, a delay is requested, and the pivotal moment rests with Rebekah: Will she choose to go this day to a new land to marry a man she has only heard a report about, or not?
Rebekah chooses to live by faith, puts her trust in the LORD, and thus becomes a part of Abraham's larger covenantal story.
The unnamed servant of Genesis 24 (we will assume him to be the same servant as in Genesis 15, Eliezer, for simplicity's sake) plays a key role in the transition of the covenantal promises of God to Abraham to the next generation of Isaac. It is Eliezer's faith that the LORD chooses to use to guide him to the selection of Rebekah as Isaac's wife. He steps out in faith by praying for guidance, God delivers it.
This serves as a powerful reminder to us that God's will is unfolding around us each day, we are called to participate in it by faith.
What can the righteous do in evil times when justice is hard to find? Be faithful. In this world we will always see evil appear to win, good appear to lose, our answer can only be: live by faith.
Before concluding his letter, the Apostle Paul offers an extended military metaphor about spiritual warfare. We learn that our enemy is not other human beings, but rather the schemes of the Devil and his minions. Against such foes we don't need the weapons of man, but the armor gifted to us by God: truth, righteousness, the Gospel, faith, salvation, and the Word of God.
Our call, in this fight, is to stand firm. Stand where we have been planted by the Lord.
In many of its publications, the First Fruits of Zion presents itself as an educational organization that is simply trying to help the Church learn more about the aspects of the Jewish people and Judaism that form the background of the Bible. Sometimes, however, they drop the pretense and go full-on Anti-Church revealing their belief that both Christianity and the Church were never meant to exist and have had an "incomplete Gospel" since the generation after the Apostles.
Rethinking the Five Solae by Jacob Fronczak is a prime example of FFOZ's hostility toward the Church and the key theological truths that have been believed by followers of Jesus for centuries. This isn't just a random book that FFOZ happens to publish, not only is it consistent with what is scattered throughout the Torah Club series, Jacob serves as the co-host of their public facing Messiah Podcast. As of this date, the book is still available on their website, they are still profiting from its sales.
Which is what helps make the actual content of this book so very alarming. It is the worst book that I have read in the past twenty-five years. There are two primary reasons: (1) It is built upon a click-bait title / premise that it doesn't begin to substantiate, and uses the unethical polemic of the Straw Man argument and the argument Ad Absurdum {i.e. Jacob doesn't argue against what Protestant actually believe, but against the most absurd version of his opponents ideas}. (2) It contains a host of dangerous false ideas, among them: That the Trinity is a construct, not an idea derived from scripture, that the scriptures were given to the Jewish people alone and nobody else has the right to interpret them, that the New Perspective on Paul ought to convince Protestants to abandon the idea of being saved by Christ alone through grace and faith alone, that congregational polity is folly and what we really need is a human authority that can force people to obey, and lastly, that the Messianic Jewish movement will never be taken seriously until it abandons its ties to Evangelicalism and embraces the structure of Orthodox Judaism.
The six-part series to follow interacts with well over 100 quotes directly from the book. For those wishing to utilize it, the PowerPoint from the videos is here: Rethinking the Five Solae - full rebuttal PowerPoint
The essence of the Gospel is our salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. This is a simple message, but also the most powerful one that ever has been. It challenges human pride and it rests upon the love of God. Attempts have been made to supplement God's grace with human effort, these have all ended in the failure that such folly deserves. In the end we are left with this joyous message: By grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, to the glory of God alone.
The first half of Paul's letter to the church in Ephesus is an ode to the wonders and majesty of the grace of God. Fittingly, Paul delves into that very subject as soon as the customary introduction is completed.
As Philip Yancy's book asked, "What's so amazing about grace?" Paul has the answer for you.
Abraham and Sarah are heroes of the faith, but they made plenty of mistakes along the way. One of the most serious of them was the decision by Sarai to offer her slave Hagar to her husband Abram as a 2nd wife in the hopes that a son born to Abram and Hagar could be considered her son by adoption. This way an effort to "assist" the fulfillment of God's promise. Here's the thing: God doesn't need immoral help to accomplish his will.
In the end, the plan works in that Hagar bears Ishmael, but is a disaster in all other respects because it spawns a bitterness between Sarai and Hagar. In the end, God intervenes to protect Hagar and her son, preventing Abram and Sarai's mistake from going further off the rails.
Does faith exclude anxiety and fear? As it turns out, it does not. Abraham, the "father of faith" had them. Abram's promise from God of a son and heir was a LONG time in the fulfilling. Abram's expressed his frustration with this to God, and rather than getting angry, God offered him reassurance that his promise still stood. It is Abram's acceptance of this promise, after expressing his anxiety/fear, that God credited to him as righteousness.
In Genesis 14 the story of Abram is dragged into the drama of a regional war when his nephew Lot is taken along with the spoils following one of its battles. Abram responds in faith, boldly moving to rescue Lot. His success leads to an amazing moment, where the victorious Abram tithes from the plunder to Melchizedek, a "priest of God Most High." This offers an amazing insight into God's work in our world beyond the scriptures.
After his failure to trust God while sojourning in Egypt, how will Abram react the next time he needs to live by faith in God's promises? Genesis 13 offers the answer, in it Abram passes the test with flying colors. When a conflict arises between his shepherds and those of Lot over the available grazing land, Abram offers Lot the first choice of the land so they can part in peace. This incredibly generous offer from Abram highlights his faith in God, as the chapter unfolds God speaks to Abram reiterating his promises and once more proclaiming that the future of this land belongs to his offspring.
* Apologies that I stepped out of the frame a bit this time, I was trying to tighten up the zoom a bit, but I guess I don't stand still enough for that to work.
Abraham and Sarah are heroes of the faith, but their lives had challenges just like our own, and they failed to meet some of them with faith. When famine caused them to seek refuge in Egypt, Abram was willing to put his wife at risk in order to avoid danger that he feared. This form of, "Let us do evil that good may result," is wholly unacceptable for God's people. Our call is to do what is morally upright, circumstances don't change that.
Following the Tower of Babel incident, when God dispersed a human effort to establish his presence among humanity, the narrative of Genesis turns toward the family line that leads to Abram, the man whom God will choose to begin his relationship with one particular people, and through them bless the world.
God asks a lot of Abram, to leave his homeland and trust that God will make him into a great nation despite the lack of children in his marriage with Sarai. But God also promises amazing things to Abram, going far beyond what any connection to a God in the Ancient Near East would expect to be by proposing to Abram an enduring relationship. With God it wouldn't be a mutually beneficially bargain, instead it would be an outpouring of grace.
God shares his plan with Noah, giving him instructions on how to survive the Flood that is coming and entrusting him with the care of the animals that are also to be spared. In that process, God promises to Noah that he will establish a covenant with him, further deepening their already existing relationship.
In the end, Noah did what God commanded. The narrative never tells us what Noah thought about any of this, we simply learn that he obeyed.
